Are Artificial Sweeteners the Answer?

Many people believe that using artificial sweeteners in tea and coffee or drinking "diet" or "lite" drinks is a good way to cut down on calories and therefore lose weight. True you reduce your calories but the health risks may not be worth it. There are 15 calories in one level 4g teaspoon of sugar or 25 in one cube.

Aspartame, a substance that can be found in artificial sweeteners, increases the risk of lymphoma cancer and leukaemia. It was originally discovered as a drug for ulcers, not a foodstuff. Another study also mentioned that the chemical actually damages DNA, increasing the risks of cancer and degenerative brain diseases in long-term use. It may help tumours to form which could lead to brain cancer. Aspartame causes an accumulation of formaldehyde in the brain which can damage your central nervous system and immune system.

Sweet is one of the four basic food tastes and we associate sweet foods with comfort:

"Eating sugar shoots our blood sugar levels up and triggers a spike in the hormone insulin, which is needed to prep our cells to absorb the sugar. If there are no other nutrients to sustain our blood sugar level, it crashes as quickly as it rises —and we crave another hit. This is how sugar addiction begins.

Moreover, sugar floods us with pleasure by stimulating the release of the neurotransmitter serotonin, and probably other mood-elevating substances. Scientists report that eating chocolate initiates a brain response similar to falling in love."

Sugar is cheap and adds bulk and texture. We become used to the sweet taste and prefer it to unsweetened foods. Sugar crops up in many disguises, simple carbohydrates with names only recognisable by anyone who has studied nutrition eg dextrose and maltodextrin. I found the latter in several "sugar-free" baby foods and drinks. Sugars fill us up, taking the place of real nutrients so we eat, gain weight and starve our cells of quality nutrition.

Remember that ingredients have to be listed in order of quantity within the product so best advice is to minimize or avoid products that have sugar, high-fructose corn syrup or corn syrup near the top of their ingredient list. Sugar can also be disguised as evaporated cane juice, cane sugar, beet sugar, glucose, sucrose, maltose, maltodextrin, dextrose, sorbitol, fructose, corn sugar, fruit juice concentrate, barley malt, caramel and carob syrup.

We are biologically made to consume sugars from natural sources such as fruits and not from developed sugars along the digestion chain. To digest them, our bodies have to produce sugar-dissolving enzymes and because so many people consume an excess quantity of sugars, often unknowingly from packaged and processed foods, our bodies can develop a sugar sensitivity and in time diabetes. Even some branded slimming foods contain artificial ingredients including sugar substitutes. Read all labels and be wary of food that contains aspartame, neotame, saccharin, acesulfame K or sucralose.

In one study the group found foods containing artificial sweeteners to be less satisfying than natural sugars so ate more. This has something to do with the brain’s perception of calories which can be confused when artificial ingredients are substituted for whole food.

The answer is to reduce our intake of sweet foods and drinks, full-stop and ensure that we eat as close to natural sources as possible. Easier said than done when pure foods cost more than processed.

If you must use sweeteners, look for products sweetened with polyalcohol sugars like sorbitol, xylitol, malitol, and mannitol. These are natural sweeteners that do not trigger an insulin reaction. They have half the calories of sugar and are not digested by the small intestine. However, while most polyalcohol sugars have no side effects, sorbitol is a natural laxative and can cause diarrhea, irritable bowel syndrome, bloating and flatulence.

The herb stevia (Stevia rebaudiana) may be the solution. Known in South America as the “sweet herb,” stevia has been used for over 400 years without ill effect. Stevia has been enormously popular in Japan, where it has been in use for more than 20 years, now rivaling Equal and Sweet’N Low. It’s 200–300 times sweeter than sugar, so just a small portion of stevia will sweeten even a strong cup of tea.

Another point to know is that regular consumption of fizzy drinks, especially the diet versions, has been linked to testicular cancer. Any young man, say 15-35, who drinks one litre or more per day on average is putting himself at risk. I knew a 35 year old man in England who drank 1.5l Coke every day and had a testicle removed. No one had ever told him of this risk. It has something to do with the phosphorous content I believe. A study in 1997 of 80,000 men and women by the Karolinska Institutet found that people who drank fizzy or syrup-based drinks twice a day or more had a 90% higher risk of developing pancreatic cancer than those who never drank them at all.

Read more:
Sweet poison: Informative article on aspartame
Splenda and sugar substitutes
Aspartame and Stevia
Calorie count in sugar
Fizzy Drinks and risk of pancreatic cancer
Fizzy drinks and pancreatic cancer
Calorie counter for 40,000+ foods

©Antonia Harrison 2008 from You Can Lose Weight Now and English Hypnotherapist in Belgium