Non-Sugar Sweeteners: Good Bad and Ugly.
Give anything ten years’ time, and the truth and false of it comes out. Like Soya oil , nonsugar sweeteners just lost all their glitz and glimmer.
Briefly (Source )
World Health Organization (WHO) new guideline on nonsugar sweeteners (NSSs): Don’t use them to control weight or reduce the risk for diabetes, heart disease, or cancer(noncommunicable diseases).
Sweeteners include- aspartame, acesulfame K, advantame, saccharine, sucralose, stevia, and stevia derivatives.
A few years back a relative while making tea for us asked me whether I wanted sugar or a popular brand of nonsugar sweetener. I said no to both. But being me I asked whether she was taking these sweeteners under a doctor’s prescription. She very enthusiastically told me that she and her husband were proactively taking these non-sugar sweeteners to cut down sugar intake and lose a few kilos. I carefully explained the side effects of non-prescription supplements and nonsugar sweeteners peddled by celebrities, health coaches/gurus/apps/games. If you want to skip sugar, skip these too.Sometimes its very difficult, but you need to do what you need to do.
Artificial sweeteners: Wolf in sheep’s clothing?
The Good: They are zero calories and may be prescribed under certain conditions.
The Bad and Ugly: It’s said that aspartame is very addictive to the brain (source ). It’s 700 times sweeter than sugar. In fact, it’s a much more difficult substance to stop using because people tend to overuse it in larger quantities to get the sugar hit. This causes your body to crave more and more of it. You think it’s zero calories (which it is) but it’s not zero harm as your body ends up having excessive stimulation and dopamine overload. Plus these sweeteners can alter your gut bacteria (source ) and cause havoc just like carrageenan.
Saccharin, sucralose, and aspartame even at low concentrations promote pathogenic changes in gut bacteria.(source)
283 studies were reviewed. In adults, pregnant women, children and it was seen they can increase the risk of type 2 Diabetes, Cardiovascular events. The very thing they were being touted to protect against.
What were the Outcomes measured?
The health outcomes of interest for adults and children were identified by the WHO Nutrition
Guidance Expert Advisory Group (NUGAG) Subgroup on Diet and Health as:
- Measures of adiposity (e.g. body weight, body mass index [BMI], overweight/obesity, fat and
- lean mass);
- type 2 diabetes and pre-diabetes (incidence and intermediate markers of glycaemic control);
- Cardiovascular diseases (incidence and intermediate markers, such as blood pressure and
- lipids);
- cancer;
- dental caries;
- chronic kidney disease;
- Eating behavior (e.g. appetite, satiety, energy intake);
- sweet preference (e.g. subjective measures, sugars intake);
- neurocognition;
- mood and behavior; and
- Asthma and allergies (for children only).
So what exactly does WHO recommend?
Cut down on the sweetness of your diet. Skip the sugar and if you really want a sweet treat a whole fruit is a better option than any refined, processed food. Sugar is addictive (source)Consumption of free sugars has been linked to escalating rates of overweight and obesity (2,3), as well as the development of diet-related noncommunicable diseases (NCDs), including dental
caries, type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular diseases, and cancer. There’s even a possibility that the WHO will classify some of these as potential carcinogens
While fruits contain fructose, the artificial nonsugar sweeteners are a horror unto themselves.
About fructose
Briefly, fructose is a fruit sugar that skips the natural feedback loop and satiety of glucose from the brain and promotes denovo lipogenesis that is the liver makes more and more fat droplets to fill your fat cells. While regular intake of whole fruits releases fructose slowly since they also contain fibers, fruit juices don’t give the same protection and can destroy the delicate balance. Even overconsumption of high glycaemic index fruits like mangoes can be a problem if someone has diabetes.About this some other time. Nutrition and health are not easy topics, so don’t cut corners if you want to stay healthy. Take the stairs, skip the chocolate(it’s hard I know), and definitely don’t buy hyper-processed packaged food. Give this blog post a reading through.
Reference :
Health effects of the use of non-sugar sweeteners: a systematic review and meta-analysis
. Rios-Leyvraz M, Montez J. Health effects of the use of non-sugar sweeteners: a systematic
review and meta-analysis. Geneva: World Health Organization; 2022. Licence: CC BY-NC-SA 3.0 IGO.
Healthwealthbridge Disclaimer:
This is for education and awareness and not be taken as medical advice. Kindly consult your doctor for any advice related to your health and diet.