Have you fallen for the promise of artificial sweeteners? All the sweetness and none of the downside? Really, who wouldn’t trust something called “Splenda”?
Unfortunately, most of what you hear about artificial sweeteners comes from the companies themselves and what you don’t hear about is the downside of these artificial sweeteners.
Generally, you reach for artificial sweeteners for one of two reasons: you either want to lose weight, or you think that using artificial sweetener will suppress your sugar addiction, or both. But guess what? Artificial sweeteners do neither: they don’t help you lose weight and they can make your cravings worse. Artificial sweeteners also deal a health-blow to your body by introducing chemicals that either shouldn’t be in your body, or that you body has a hard time getting rid of.
The health problems associated with saccharine, aspartame, sucralose and other artificial sweeteners are numerous and you should avoid them whenever possible.
But let’s stop here and take a look at what these crazy chemicals are and what they do inside your body.
Guide to Artificial Sweeteners:
- Saccharin: Most people think that saccharin has been banned by the FDA, but this is not true. While saccharin was banned in other countries, it is still available in the United States and is making a comeback. Saccharin was shown to cause bladder cancer in very large doses in animals and was pulled from the shelves because of a public outcry. It also has a metallic after-taste that makes it not so palatable. Companies who manufacture saccharine will tell you that it passes through your body undigested (if this is true, it makes one wonder how it gets from the intestinal tract to the bladder to cause cancer?). Saccharin is again showing up in a lot of artificially sweetened foods because it is super sweet and is now blended with other sweeteners to mask the metallic taste.
- Aspartame: (This is also called Nutrasweet or Equal). Aspartame breaks down into aspartate, phenylalanine and methanol in the body. The first two (aspartate and phenylalanine) are amino acids and fine for most people to take in, but no amount of methanol is good for your body. Manufacturers maintain that the amount of methanol is so small that you don’t have to worry about it, but others think differently. Aspartame has been shown to increase cancers 1 and has been associated with headache, dizziness, mood shifts, nausea and vomiting, abdominal pain and cramps, joint pain, vision changes, slurred speech, diarrhea, seizures, memory loss, numbness and cramping in arms and legs, and fatigue.2
- Sucralose (this is also known as Splenda) What a great name for a product! I’m almost tempted to try it, but since sucralose is an organochloride, I think I’ll stay away. Organochlorides are some of the most toxic substances on the earth (many pesticides are organochlorides and are toxic in small doses). Just because Splenda is an organochloride doesn’t mean it is toxic, but it should raise some eyebrows. Splenda has been shown to increase migraine headaches3 and needs more long-term studies to determine its safety.
- Acesulfame K: This artificial sweetener has been associated with breast, thymus, and lung tumors.
The Bottom Line
If you turn to artificial sweeteners to help you with cravings and weight loss, you might as well not use them at all. This is because artificial sweetener actually cause you to gain weight and continue your addiction to super-sweet tasting foods.
Most of these sweet chemicals cause your insulin to rise. When insulin rise, your blood sugar is lowered. Low blood sugar causes you to crave and eat more. Studies have shown that people who consume artificial sweeteners eat more calories than people who don’t.4
The bottom line is that there are no good reasons to put these chemicals in your body, you are better off avoiding all sweet-tasting foods and artificial sweeteners.
- Soffritti M, Belpoggi F, Tibaldi E, et al: Life-span exposure to low doses of aspartame beginning during prenatal life increases cancer effects in rats. Environ Health Perspect. 2007 Sep;115(9):1293-7. [↩]
- Aspartame (NutraSweet): Is it Safe? (Nutrasweet : Is It Safe?)
H, J Roberts, The Charles Press, 1990 [↩] - Patel RM, Sarma R, Grimsley E: Popular sweetener sucralose as a migraine trigger. Headache. 2006 Sep;46(8):1303-4. [↩]
- Swithers SE, Davidson TL. A role for sweet taste: calorie predictive relations in energy regulation by rats. Behav Neurosci. 2008 Feb;122(1):161-73. [↩]
A very informative article. Nice to spend some time on reading this. Thanks Dr. Scott
[...] Aspartame: (This is also called Nutrasweet or Equal). Aspartame breaks down into aspartate, phenylalanine and methanol in the body. The first two (aspartate and phenylalanine) are amino acids and fine for most people to take in, but no amount of methanol is good for your body. Manufacturers maintain that the amount of methanol is so small that you don’t have to worry about it, but others think differently. Aspartame has been shown to increase cancers 1 and has been associated with headache, dizziness, mood shifts, nausea and vomiting, abdominal pain and cramps, joint pain, vision changes, slurred speech, diarrhea, seizures, memory loss, numbness and cramping in arms and legs, and fatigue.2 [...]
ARe Stevia and its derivatives, Truvia and Purevia, safe to use?
Hi Monica,
Check out this previous post: What About Stevia?
Having been hit by hodgkins, this was good to see. Thanks for this.
Oh, and here is another article: http://www.organicconsumers.org/articles/article_16861.cfm
http://www.cancer.gov/cancertopics/factsheet/Risk/artificial-sweeteners
Though I think you make a good point about our reliance on artificial sweeteners to combat weight loss, I find that the information that you provide on the link between cancer and artificial sweeteners is misleading and incomplete. In the article listed above, from the National Cancer Institute’s website, you will find that though each of the sweeteners listed may have been thought to have caused cancer in the past,
“Human epidemiology studies (studies of patterns, causes, and control of diseases in groups of people) have shown no consistent evidence that saccharin is associated with bladder cancer incidence,”
“Increasing consumption of aspartame-containing beverages was not associated with the development of lymphoma, leukemia, or brain cancer,”
and “Before approving [Acesulfame potassium, Sucralose, and Neotame], the FDA reviewed more than 100 safety studies that were conducted on each sweetener, including studies to assess cancer risk. The results of these studies showed no evidence that these sweeteners cause cancer or pose any other threat to human health.”
Since you are a doctor, people are going to trust what you have to say. Using scare tactics and incomplete data to get people to stop consuming artificial sweeteners is unfair and irresponsible.
Thank you for your comments!
I think the difference is that you trust the National Cancer Institute and the FDA (from which they got their resources) and I don’t.
Approval of drugs and food additives is as much a political process and anything else. Stevia, for example, was recently approved by the FDA. This, despite years of groups trying to get it approved. What is the difference? Pepsi and Coke were asking for approval.
While there are studies that show that artificial sweeteners are not harmful, there are others that show that it is:
Take a look at this: Cancer and artificial sweeteners
Or check out Mercola’s book Sweet Deception or his site: Mercola.com
Splenda was recently shown to kill off one-half of gut bacteria, lead to weight gain and inhibit liver detoxification: Read the Study
What really causes me to worry is that the studies that the FDA uses to base their decisions on are small studies conducted in a few hundred people. This isn’t enough to make a decision on the health of these chemicals. A few new studies are looking into the longer-term effects of these sweeteners and questioning if we should be eating them. And, since all these chemicals are tested in isolation, we may never know what happens when you combine them.
You may be happy with the assumption that the FDA is looking out for our health. For me, we all need to be educated and the risks of artificial sweeteners far outweigh their supposed benefits.
This is a great, informative article. I re-posted sections of this on my blog today, http://empoweredandfit.ning.com. Thanks so much for your great work! I know for me, I’ve been able to re-train my tastebuds and have greatly reduced the sugar in my diet. The results? In the past month, I’ve been able to lose 20 pounds. I feel great thanks to your help!
Fred’s last blog post..What I’ve Learned From Reading Food Product Ingredient Labels – How food manufacturers trick consumers with deceptive ingredients lists
Hi!
I am doing the 30 day challenge, and although I do see the benefits of eating no sugar, I was a little confused by my recent “update email”. You suggested that we cure the withdrawal feeling by drinking Emergen-C (side note: I love this stuff), but when I went on their site the first ingredient is fructose. Am I missing something?
Thanks!
Allyson
People keep asking about that and I’ll have to make a not. There are low sugar versions, but even the regular version has very low amount of sugar (about what you might find in an apple). If you take it with food, there should be no affect on your blood sugar. I see it as a one-time event, so it shouldn’t derail your Challenge.
RT@olsonnd New blog post: Complete Guide to Artificial Sweeteners http://tinyurl.com/c3dspj
New blog post: Complete Guide to Artificial Sweeteners http://tinyurl.com/c3dspj