Use of artificial sweeteners healthier than sugar or not?
How many of you have read this quote? “Respect your body, and look forward to feeling healthy and clean. Your body deserves better than laboratory-made sweetness.” Sounds like an advertisement line by the sugar industry.
Artificial sweeteners has been around for over 140 years. Saccharin was accidentally discovered in 1879 in John Hopkins laboratory when Professor Ira Remsen a sweet substance in his hand after experimenting with different chemicals in his hands in the laboratory. Cheap as it was it became extremely popular. During World War II sugar was in short supply so it became widely used.
Today we see artificially sweeteners is widely used commercially in sugar free food products and drinks. Food manufactures like to use it because it is much cheaper than sugar and also they could promote their products to combat obesity and its associated health impact.
I’m sure you have come across the line “Sweet with zero calories.” Saccharin is over 200 times sweeter that sugar per weight and has zero calories. Should we then replace sugar with artificial sweetener. What factor should we consider to make that decision?
What are artificial sweeteners and how do they work?
Artificial sweeteners provide the taste of sugar without the calories. There are two classes of artificial sweeteners: sugar alcohols and high-intensity sweeteners.
Sugar alcohols have chemical structure similar to sugar but are less metabolized by the body, whereas high intensity are small compounds that many times sweeter than sugar without the calories, most commonly used are saccharin and aspartame. They are react with T1R family of sweet taste receptor in the mouth and gut.
Are artificial sweeteners linked to cancer?
In 1978 concern about artificial sweeteners may cause cancer after rats in laboratory feed with saccharin develop bladder cancer. “Because the bladder tumors seen in rats are due to a mechanism not relevant to humans and because there is no clear evidence that saccharin causes cancer in humans, saccharin was delisted in 2000 from the U.S. National Toxicology Program’s Report on Carcinogens, where it had been listed since 1981 as a substance.” In genetically modified mice saccharin did not cause cancer. Not just saccharin but all artificial sweeteners that have been approved by the FDA and EU after extensive testing in both humans and animals showed no link to cancer or adverse side effects.
Do artificial sweeteners make you lose weight
Yes and No. If artificial sweetener makes you eat or drink significantly lesser amount of total amount of calories then yes, but if does not do that, then the obvious answer is no. It is just like the patient who was prescribed weight loss diet by a doctor and on follow up was noted to have gained more weight. The doctors asked, “Did you follow my diet?” the patient answered, “Yes doc, to the letter, I ate before my every regular meal.”
Nutritionist Dr. Cornelie Nienaber-Rousseau explains that the effect of sweeteners on the food reward system “may contribute to the increased appetite, fuel food-seeking behavior and encourage sugar cravings.” She adds the “non-caloric artificial sweetener seems to alter the gut microbiome.”
Most studies showed using artificial sweetener did not result in loss of weight if there was no other dietary change. However, obese or overweight individuals did lose more weight when switching to artificial sweeteners than those of the sugar eating counter parts.
Epidemiologist Gideon Meyeowitz-Katz sums it up that “it is possible that artificial sweeteners might be worse for people than water – although this something of an open question – but compared to sugar, all indications are that artificial sweeteners are bit better.”
The most impact on weight by artificial sweeteners was when combined with caloric restricted diet and exercise, but in itself the positive impact on health is a bit disappointing.
