Not so sweet: Some sugar substitutes linked to faster cognitive decline

Medical Xpress / American Academy of Neurology / Neurology ^ | Sept. 3, 2025 | Natalia Gomes Gonçalves et al / Thomas Monroe Holland

[AndyTheBear]

Been usin the ...the...sweet thingy...yeah...and have not noticed....uhm....what was I talking about?

[jmacusa]

I procrastinate at a lot of things.

I was going to join a self-help group about it but I keep putting it off...

[jmacusa]

‘’what was I talking about?

You were saying you were going to donate your entire life savings to Free Republic.

[miniTAX]

“They didn’t even tested Sucralose because they knew that it couldn’t cause cognitive decline”

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They know nothing about sweetener’s effect on cognitive decline, neither from sucralose, nor from any other substance.
This study is garbage, like any other nutrition “science” based on food questionnaires, uncontrolled samples, unknown physiological mechanism, fudge (’adjusting’) factors, results scouting (they didn’t test for an a priori hypothesis, they pull post-hoc conclusions out of their hats), unsignificant risk factors, irreproducible results...

Pure junk science, dressed up as “epidemiological research” to make headlines and appeal to suckers and snake oil seller. Nothing can be concluded from it, much less informed dietary advice.

[madison10]

Agree. Stevia, especially, leaves a bitter aftertaste; as does saccharine.

[Doctor Congo]

The ‘study’ sounds like a paid ad for tagatose.

[tired&retired]

Wish they would have included Stevia in the study.

[sasquatch]

I use sorbitol but don’t eat it. Mixed with potassium nitrate
it makes good fuel for rockets.

[maddog55]

But I'm drinking a diet soda!!!

[sauropod]

Bkmk

[odawg]

Actually it is not. Sucrose is sucrose, whether it is honey or table sugar. It is the amount consumed that is harmful. Even a verse in the Bible says too much honey is not good.

[bert]

Think honey and real maple syrup

[umbagi]

I have that, too. It’s inherited. Even mouthwash with artificial sweetener leaves a bad taste, sometimes for hours.

[Zhang Fei]

[They know nothing about sweetener’s effect on cognitive decline, neither from sucralose, nor from any other substance.
This study is garbage, like any other nutrition “science” based on food questionnaires, uncontrolled samples, unknown physiological mechanism, fudge (’adjusting’) factors, results scouting (they didn’t test for an a priori hypothesis, they pull post-hoc conclusions out of their hats), unsignificant risk factors, irreproducible results...
Pure junk science, dressed up as “epidemiological research” to make headlines and appeal to suckers and snake oil seller. Nothing can be concluded from it, much less informed dietary advice.]

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It’s the road to academic accolades, and maybe even wealth, if they can clamber on as expert witnesses in some class action suit alleging product defects. Devising BS studies is unethical, but perfectly understandable.

[Varda]

This says that they did not control for diet.
People often combine artificial sweetners with high carbohydrate diets ( the classic Big Mac, frys and diet coke) . It’s long been known to be worse for you than if you didn’t.

[ConservativeMind]

Tagatose did not cause the issues.

Tagatose was also not a controlled diet.

[Varda]

As others have said tagatose seems to be rare at the moment. Right now the cheap stuff works fine if you don’t combine it with carbohydrates.

[ConservativeMind]

The study was done where it was approved for use in food, in Brazil.

It is approved for use in foods in Brazil, alongside other countries like the European Union, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, and Korea.

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/B9780124046993000743

[Varda]

Thanks for that link. Apparently there are several reasons why it won’t be used more in foods. I’m checking a few studies about it and the one I like is that it can used as a fungicide. Talk about all pupose.