Artificial Sweeteners
Wednesday July 2, 2008
Some people love them and some people hate them, but artificial sweeteners are very popular, especially in diet sodas, snacks and as table-top sweeteners at your local coffee shop or cafe. Are artificial sweeteners safe? I think so, and I think they are a good way to satisfy a sweet tooth without adding extra calories. The thing I want you to remember, though, is that artificial sweeteners don't add anything good to your diet. So choose healthy, nutritious beverages like milk, fruit juices and vegetable juices first for all of the vitamins and minerals, then drink diet sodas and Splenda-sweetened coffee drinks as occasional treats.
Poll:Which artificial sweetener do you prefer?
Photo © John Sigler
Comments
ARTIFICIAL SWEETENERS ARE SAFE???? WHAT?
Artificial sweeteners are not healthy! I can’t emphasize this enough! Sweeteners like aspartame (in diet soda) may cause cancer, and are worse than the sugars they substitute!
The body prepares for the sweet tasting sugars, and then does not receive actual sugar. Basically, this damages your metabolism and makes you GAIN weight, rather than lose it. If you HAVE to drink soda, never ever drink diet soda.
Artificial sweeteners are poisons. Do not listen to this ill-informed author! Here’s a link to many details: http://www.westonaprice.org/modernfood/sugarfree_blues.html
I completely disagree with the fact this author is saying artificial sweetners are okay for you. I’m not too sure where she is getting her information from but it is completely false!
www.EatingforEnergy.ca
All of my sources for my information are listed at the bottom of each article - and all articles are medically reviewed before publishing.
I’m sorry but this absolute nonsense!
I don’t know of any artificial sweeteners that can be good or healthy for the body. That’s why they’re called “artificial”!
For instance, the creation of sucralose (ie. SPLENDA) involves substituting 3 hydroxyl groups (hydrogen + oxygen) on the sugar molecule with 3 chlorine atoms.
Have you ever felt the need to drink chlorine?
Alternatively, sucralose can be made from ingredients that don’t even include sugar! Sucralose was intentionally and improperly named with the suffix -ose, a move that serves to fool you into believing it is natural (such as fructose, sucrose, and glucose).
The reason sucralose contains no calories is because the molecule has been changed so much that the body doesn’t even recognize it as food! Manufacturers claim that this alien molecule passes through the body unchanged.
Animal researchers have found that it does not, in fact, just pass through the body. And, some of it breaks down into a molecule known as 1,6-dichlorofructose (just think chlorine + fruit sugar).
There have only been a handful of human studies on sucralose, and no long-term studies at all. Better yet, there have been no long-term independant studies. This means that most studies have been controlled by the manufacturers, who desperately do not want to show that sucralose is harmful to the body!
Before sucralose was even approved for human consumption, animal studies indicated potential toxicity! It’s aspartame all over again.
Adverse effects reported in pre-approval research include: Shrunken thymus glands (by up to 40%!), enlarged liver and kidneys, atrophy of lymph follicles in the spleen and thymus, increased cecal weight, reduced growth rate, decreased red blod cell count, extension of the pregnancy period and aborted pregnancy, decreased fetal body weights and placental weights, and diarrhea.
Instead, why not use agave nectar (low glycemic index)???
Just something to think about.
I concur with the above comments. Sugar substitutes are not safe. My father was just taken off the sugar substitutes by his doctor’s recommendation due to a blood disorder he has developed.
I am concerned with the responses of your readers. They are upset with your comments and questionning your sources. You did not say that artificial sweeteners were healthy or good for you… You said that they are probably safe if consumed in moderation as a treat. You suggested that good nutrition be derived from real food. It appears that you have some emotional individuals that react strongly without reading the article with comprehension… You are a great writer and a provider of accurate nutritional advice. Keep up the good work.
I’m sorry, but there have been no beneficial studies to prove that artificial sweeteners help your diet, in fact, they don’t help with weight loss at all, they hinder it, as being that they are a chemically made alternative to real/raw sugar, it takes up to 3 days for the chemicals to digest in your system. Use regular sugar instead, just a smaller amount
I think your statement are very informative. You don’t say anything that could be read from a lot of research. Like you said in moderation you didn’t say eat a box of artifical sweetener. Thanks for giving the facts and the consumer can decide.
WOW, Thanks Dr. Leman
Your right I didn’t read any where in the article, where the author was saying that is now officially okay to put artificial sweeteners in every thing you eat. Nor did she say that artificial sweeteners were now good and healthy for you. Now vitallywell, be serious I’m sure your dad had other issues going on with him, and your trying to make it sound like artificial sugars were his only problem. I’m sure he was placed on other restrictions as well. As for every one else use your common sense, the American Dietetic Association, the World Health Organization, as well as every good nutritionist will tell you, yes you should choose natural sugars first, and then if you must you can consume artificial sugars in moderation.
And Yuri no one needed you to brake down the chemical make up of artificial sugars. Its great you wanted to show off your know-it-all, but if you’d read the article in it’s entirety you’d see the article gave a much better link to what artificial sugars are. And on the fist line of that article it says artificial sweeteners are “non-nutritive sweeteners.”
Yet the article was not called “What are artificial Sugars” The article simply states that artificial sugars are a good way to satisfy a sweet tooth.
I’m sorry, but everything in this article is BS. TOTAL CRAP! Artificial sweeteners ruin you! Aspartame in some cases has CAUSED DEATH! Go to http://bbiales.dyndns.org/wts and see for yourself. I don’t care what sources you claim you have!
Some people such as diabetics have no choice but to take artificial sugars and indulge in sweet sparingly. My father for one has no choice(and like splenda a lot) and I am probably at risk since it does run in the family.
But I am completely allergic to all artificial sugars! They trigger me to get really painful headaches to the point I feel like vomiting and sometimes have. And I don’t like the taste of any of them, they all leave a dreadful after taste!