The TRUTH About Artificial Sweeteners

Stevia is great
I love honey
Agave Nectar has associated health benefits too…

Of the above, Stevia, which has been mentioned previously, is a plant and has zero calories. Just because it’s natural doesn’t mean it’s fine – many poisons are natural too, but Stevia has associated health benefits – it’s supposed to be good for the pancreas, and the metabolism, for example… I wish I had some good links to post, but the only ones I can find are people who are selling Stevia, and you never can trust people to give you reliable and impartial advice when they’re selling you stuff. But hey, zero calories and it’s not half as controversial as a lot of the ‘artificial’ sweeteners out there.

wikipedia has an interesting article on stevia. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stevia – ah yes, the much maligned and often quoted wikipedia…

Soda is not a drink that should be consumed. Call me crazy.

You can actually get Green Tea in a pill now. Isn’t that crazy? Just drink it! It’s TEA! Too bitter? Add honey and lemon. Or buy a good quality whole-leaf tea.

And anyway, artificial sweeteners tend to have an awful aftertaste. Stevia, Honey and Agave taste good, and they’re all arguably better to use than sugar.

I stopped listening to “Conventinal Wisdom” a long time ago.

I am another Stevia convert, and another “I heard artificial sweeteners cause a glycemic response. Hit me with your best (scientifically-researched) shot! Have I “heard” wrong, and is there something about Stevia I should “hear”?

i’m curious about the tomorrow post!!!
I use stevia!?!

Joel,

What is wrong with driniking “water”? And, if I want to sweeten my oatmeal, of the yoghurt thing (some plain yoghurt, ground walnuts, shelled sunflower seeds, oat bran, dried cranberries) I add a teaspoon of honey figuring if its good enough for the bees, its good enough for me.

Other than that I avoid most sugar, white, brown, and otherwise except for the foods where it appears, and I don’t have any control over it. In those cases, I “take one”, say thank you to the host or hostess, figure I am not adding to my weight too much, and I have been polite.

I figure anything that is artificial has the potential of messing up your body. So even some sugars, taken in moderation are not as bad as it seems. Heck, a little butter, real butter on a fresh whole wheat roll is healthier that a larger amount of margarine. Have you ever read the specs on how that spread is produced?! Don’t be surprised if there are traces of machine oil from the pipes through whcih the vegetable oil passes.

You can go on forever on artificial food, but . . . the rule of thumb is likely to stay to natural in moderation. Yeah, even a little dry red wine is good for the digestive tract. Ask the French!

The study a few people mentioned linking the consumption of artificial sweeteners with weight gain is here:

http://www.apa.org/journals/releases/bne-feb08-swithers.pdf

I admit that I do use the occasional sprinkle of splenda on my yogurt and fruit. I alternate with stevia and brown rice syrup, and sometimes I even use honey or sugar (organic) or succanat in recipes. I’m all for moderation.

Hi, Would definitely like to know more about this, as i’m a regular user of Sugarfree.

Personally I know that they cause cravings. I may think that diet soda is harmless, but pretty soon I’m wanting other sweet things…

I use splenda and stevia in a lot of tea and coffee that I drink.

Bring it on as this is an ongoing debate that I’m tired of hearing.

Splenda = 2 calories per teaspoon

Sugar = 20 calories per teaspoon.

Enough said!

Hi Joel, I wish I could mail my research to you :). I am doing a mastersdegree on Insulin microspheres, and research has indeed proven that artificial sweetners can cause the same insulin spike as sugar and worse, essentially worsening diabetes patients

I have heard all the hype and are very interested to know some FACTS on them.

The main problem is that neither side is conclusive. For instance Snopes says all the claims are anecdotal:
http://www.snopes.com/medical/toxins/aspartame.asp

On the other hand personal testimonies against NutraSweet are plentiful:
http://www.holisticmed.com/aspartame/adverse.txt

Popularized and commercial research on aspartame seems to be tainted by industrial sponsorship:
http://www.holisticmed.com/aspartame/100.html

The problem is exacerbated by the theory that sweetener wars are trumped up through industrial warfare tactics between competing sweetener manufactures, which obfuscates the point of safety… yet there are non-contraversial alternatives like Agave Necter, Xylatol and even pseudo alcohol sweeteners like Maltitol, and also fruit derived sweeteners like fructose… that are low on the glycolitic index and most of which you can get at health food stores. Why use the contraversial stuff while the jury is still out when there are alternatives with much more certainty of their safety?

Even Stevia has its controversies:
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2009/05/02/earlyshow/health/main4986432.shtml

Saccharine is still illegal in Canada.
http://encarta.msn.com/encyclopedia_761567430/saccharin.html

Splenda contains Chlorine ns shrinks the thalamus gland (Bellin J. New Scientist. pg 13. Nov 23, 1991.):
http://www.splendaexposed.com/articles/2005/02/the_sweetener_w.html

Artificial Sweeteners pose concerns for children:
http://www.eatright.org/cps/rde/xchg/ada/hs.xsl/advocacy_adap0598_ENU_HTML.htm

Aspartame may cause allergic reaction in a small number of people:
http://pubs.ama-assn.org/cgi/search?fulltext=aspartame&submit.x=0&submit.y=0&submit=GO

After reading several articles on the internet about artificial sweeteners, trying to solve a health problem of my daughters I weened her off diet drinks for a while to see if it would make a difference. IT DID. I have my own proof that (for some people) it can be catastrophic health wise.
I would like everybody to lay of sweeteners for a month and then let me know their results. I think this would give all of us a better take on whether or not these symtpoms are real or not.

I use it in salad dressing to balance the vinegar or lemon juice. Also lile it in drinks like hot chocolate.

In UK, aspartame was approved so quickly by the Government that I thought they must have shares in Searle! One of the breakdown products of aspartame is methanol, which is oxidized in the body (liver) to formaldehyde & then formic acid. Would you willingly consume either of these chemicals?

Formic acid is the favoured food of one of the bugs (M. smithii) that lots of overweight people have in their guts – so aspartame might keep you overweight.

Sucralose is made from sugar by a process called ‘nucleophilic substitution’. Hydrochloric acid is added to sugar; the hydroxyl groups are replaced with chlorine atoms. Any resemblance to chlorinated pesticides is purely coincidental.

Yeah, tell us more, i use to drink diet soda.

I also remember a case study of a women who they thought to have MS, she could barely walk. It was noticed that she scarfed down the one diet soda after the other. It was suggested for her to stop with the diet soda for a while, after a few weeks she could walk again

My personal experience…..always used artificial sweeteners in coffee/tea, drank diet softdrink. Decided to give them up and whaddya know? I stopped craving sweet stuff and now I find any sugary food too sweet. I also rekindled my love of fruit, which now tastes sweet to me and very satisfying. Not exactly scientific, but you can’t beat experience. I refuse to use them.

Well, its as simple as this.
It is not sugar… so it won’t be digested. If it won’t be digested.. it has to be cleared out of the system. And that is going to take a toll on your kidneys… hence no artificial sweetners for me

I use sweet n low in my coffee and tea. Thats pretty much all I drink besides water. 1 packet for each drink. Is this hurting my fitness goals?

I always use stevia, if i’m not using honey or sugar (only occassionally) I am Very sensitive to any artificial chemicals. I did use artificial sweeteners when I was pregnant and my daughter has mild spina bifida.

I must tell you all this sounds like my thyriod symptoms. So who will know what the truth really is??????

Hi there,
I switched from sugar to Splenda a few years ago. I`m now as you said hearing people saying really nasty things about it. These folks seem to have nothing better to do , they seen to change their minds like the wind. One day somethings is bad for you the next it`s ok or even benificial. Der ,Hello.. Like everything if you take anything in moderation it`s not going to harm you.

Joel –
Looked at ingredients of a product that blatantly stated on its label, “SUGAR FREE”. Yeah, but when you look at the list of ingredients it says, “Sugar Alcohol” – please comment !!!
I have pretty well given up artificial sweetners but as a type II diabetic, what do I do? I cannot drink unsweetened coffee or tea – UGH.