What you need to know about artificial sweeteners

You’re probably familiar with the negative health effects of eating too much sugar, especially the added sugars found in soda, candy, baked goods, and many cereals, just to name a few.  Added sugar is hiding just about everywhere in the grocery store! It’s particularly pernicious because ingesting refined sugar spikes your blood sugar and insulin and increases your risk for a whole host of chronic health conditions and diseases.

A while ago, one of the food industry’s responses to the demand for lower-calorie foods that still taste great was to produce artificial sweeteners. The thinking behind that move was to make sure that consumers would enjoy the sweetness they crave by consuming these sugar substitutes, but without the high number of calories found in regular sugar. This is why many people have chosen to drink diet soda rather than regular soda. Theoretically, the switch from regular sugar to sugar substitutes would help people maintain a healthy body weight and–hopefully–not increase anyone’s risk of heart disease, diabetes, or obesity.

But, things don’t always work out the way we think they will, right? We’re now dealing with the fallout from the introduction of these artificial sweeteners. It’s hard to avoid them; you can find them in many processed foods, such as soft drinks, baked goods, candy, canned foods, dairy products, and jams and jellies.

Types of artificial sweeteners

Sugar substitutes fall into several categories, but their common denominator is that they all have a sweet taste and fewer calories than plain sugar. Today we’ll focus on artificial sweeteners: synthetic chemicals that provide tremendous sweetness in very small doses. They’re also known as non-nutritive sweeteners.

There are five major categories of artificial sweeteners that are approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA):

1. Aspartame, sold under the brand names NutraSweet^® and Equal^®
2. Saccharin, sold under the brand name Sweet’N Low^®
3. Sucralose, sold under the brand name Splenda^®
4. Acesulfame K (or acesulfame potassium), produced by a German company and widely used in foods, beverages, and pharmaceutical products around the world
5. Neotame, produced by the NutraSweet Company and used in diet soft drinks and low-calorie foods

Side effects of artificial sweeteners

Many studies clearly describe the negative health effects of artificial sweeteners; yet, other studies aren’t as conclusive. Can ingesting artificial sweeteners lead to cancer? Maybe, according to some researchers; maybe not, according to others. The same goes for artificial sweeteners’ ties to heart disease and other chronic conditions. Plus, it’s important to recognize that much of the research on artificial sweeteners has been carried out on animals, and the results may or may not apply to humans.

The Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI), however, cautions everyone to avoid aspartame, saccharin, and acesulfame K. The Center claims that these artificial sweeteners are unsafe when consumed in large amounts, or are very poorly tested and not worth the risk. The CSPI lists Neotame and Sucralose (Splenda) as safe.

However, there are some really important features of artificial sweeteners, particularly the popular ones, that bear mentioning.

• Aspartame is of particular concern as its side effects include headaches, blurred vision, memory loss, personality changes, and worsening pre-menstrual syndrome (PMS) symptoms.
• Saccharin is eight times more addictive than cocaine, so using it as a sugar substitute might not be the answer.
• Unfortunately, women who try to do the “right thing” by drinking diet sodas actually drink twice as much as those who drink regular sugar-sweetened sodas, because artificial sweeteners are more addictive than regular sugar.
• One study found that people who tend to drink diet sodas have double the risk of gaining weight than those who don’t.
• Another study has shown an increased risk for metabolic syndrome and diabetes for those who consume diet drinks every day.

Obviously, these results don’t apply equally to everyone, but they do merit serious consideration.

How do artificial sweeteners affect our bodies (and minds)?

Now that’s a million-dollar question, and there are many potential answers, but the reality is we don’t know for sure. But consider some of the mind and body shifts that occur as people ingest more and more artificial sweeteners. Do you see these shifts occurring as you consume sugar substitutes?

• Do people feel that they can eat cake because they’ve switched to diet soda (less calories in the latter making room for consuming more of the former)?

• Perhaps artificial sweeteners change our taste preferences so that fruit starts to taste worse and veggies taste terrible?

• Maybe artificial sweeteners increase our cravings for more (real) sweets?

• Does the sweet taste of these sugar substitutes act as a signal to our body to release insulin to lower our blood sugar? At the same time, because we didn’t actually ingest real sugar, our blood sugar levels get too low, to the point that we get sugar cravings?

• Does saccharin inspire addiction to its sweetness? At least one animal study suggests that this might be the case.

• Could it be that there’s a more complex response that involves our gut microbes and their role in regulating our blood sugar levels?

How to rein in added sugar

Understand that added sugar–in any form–is not good for you. However, the solution doesn’t lie in consuming artificial sweeteners.

I highly recommend reducing your sugar intake and naturally re-training your palate so that you can begin to enjoy the taste of real food that isn’t overly sweet. You can begin by using ½ teaspoon less of sugar in your hot morning drink and reducing the amount of sugar called for in some recipes by a 1/4 cup. Another trick is to dilute your juice with water, ideally half-half.  Your body will thank you!

Recipe: Sweet Enough Matcha Latte

Serves 1

• 1 teaspoon matcha powder
• 1.5 cups almond milk, unsweetened
• 1-2 teaspoons maple syrup or honey (optional)

1. Heat almond milk and maple syrup/honey (if using) in a small pot.
2. Add matcha powder to cup.
3. When almond milk is hot, add about a ¼ cup to matcha and stir to combine.
4. Add rest of the milk to cup.
5.  Serve & enjoy!

Tip: You can steep a chai tea bag in the milk if you prefer chai tea to matcha.

Reference: https://authoritynutrition.com/artificial-sweeteners-blood-sugar-insulin/

Have you been using artificial sweeteners? If so, which ones, and why?