Posted on 08/19/2022 12:02:17 PM PDT by Red Badger
Just because an artificial sweetener has zero or very few calories doesn't mean there are zero (or very few) health consequences to consuming the sachet.
A randomized controlled trial recently found that regular consumption of sucralose (marketed as Splenda) and saccharin (marketed as Sweet'N Low) can alter microbes in the gut and elevate the body's response to sugar.
These non-nutritive sweeteners are presumed to be chemically inert, but that may not actually be true.
The findings of the recent trial, conducted among 120 participants who identified as strict abstainers from artificial sweeteners of any kind, suggest that regularly consuming some zero-calorie sweeteners has potential downsides for your health – at least in the short term.
Compared to control groups who received a placebo, those participants given daily sachets of saccharin and sucralose for two weeks showed distinct physiological changes in the seven days after the experiment.
Namely, the sweeteners altered their gut microbiome in composition and function, and their glucose tolerance was impaired.
"This seemed to suggest that gut microbes in the human body are rather responsive to each of these sweeteners," explains immunologist Eran Elinav from the Weizmann Institute of Science and the German National Cancer Center.
Meanwhile, other artificial sweeteners – like aspartame (marketed Equal) and stevia (often marketed as Truvia) – did not show the same effects on glucose tolerance.
"When we looked at consumers of non-nutritive sweeteners as groups, we found that two of the non-nutritive sweeteners, saccharin, and sucralose, significantly impacted glucose tolerance in healthy adults," Elinav adds.
"Interestingly, changes in the microbes were highly correlated with the alterations noted in people's glycemic responses."
To further test how some artificial sweeteners change the gut microbiome and the body's response to glucose consumption, researchers turned to mice.
First, researchers created a microbiome based on the changes seen in the randomized-controlled trial. Then, they transplanted this microbiome in the form of stool into a group of sterile mice.
The changes to the animals' blood sugar levels closely mirrored what had been seen in humans, suggesting that artificial sweeteners actually can drive changes in the gut, altering what molecules are secreted into the blood. This, in turn, can influence glucose tolerance.
Given the popularity of artificial sweeteners, the findings are worrisome.
In the human trial, researchers gave participants a daily dose of artificial sweetener well below the recommended daily serving laid out by the United States Food and Drug Administration. Yet there was still a noticeable effect.
Research shows diet can change the make-up of gut microbiomes within a matter of days, but we don't yet know what regular consumption of artificial sweeteners over prolonged times might do
Everyone's microbiome is structured somewhat differently, which means it's unlikely that everyone will have the same response to artificial sweeteners. That said, the fact that our bodies are responding to these products is worth investigating.
While sugar is known to impact weight gain and glucose tolerance, artificial sweeteners are supposed to slip right through the human body without leaving a trace.
Recent research has found that people who drink diet soda sweetened with aspartame are twice as likely to be obese as those who do not.
Part of the problem might be the very taste of sweetness. Saccharin is over 200 times sweeter than sugar, which means when it interacts with sugar receptors or bacteria in the mouth or gut, it could trigger powerful metabolic effects.
The effects, in turn, could impact our brains, our cravings, and the healthy control of our blood sugar levels.
In recent years, artificial sweeteners have even been connected to dementia and cancer.
"We need to raise awareness of the fact that non-nutritive sweeteners are not inert to the human body as we originally believed," says Elinav.
"With that said, the clinical health implications of the changes they may elicit in humans remain unknown and merit future long-term studies."
In trying to produce a zero-calorie substitute for sugar, we might have ripped open a whole new sachet of problems.
The study was published in Cell.
For the past several years I’ve only used stevia, the only safe one.
To sweeten or not to sweeten, that is the question…🤔
Aspartame isn’t harmless.
I take my artificially sweetened drinks and point my squeeze bottle of stevia at them and count to 6.
I fully expect stevia plants to sprout on top of my grave.
l
l
I didn’t notice in the article what the daily dosage was. Unless “sachets” is some scientific measurement I’m not aware of.
Remember the hit on Cyclamates in the 60’s? Rats given the equivalent of 50 gallons of soda per day.
Oops forgot to mention monk fruit which appears safe as well, both are from natural sources. Monk fruit is much more expensive however. I saw one study that suggested stevia might have anticancer properties, although that might have been the whole leaf which includes a bitter fraction that is removed from store bought stevia.
Some will go into denial, others dismissive, while some will get downright angry.
This is not new.
Accept that drinking flavored water (aside from tea & coffee) arose strictly from advertising designed to change consumption and, consequently, buying habits.
Frankly, when I went cold turkey I felt quite stupid (normal reaction for all).
“Recent research has found that people who drink diet soda sweetened with aspartame are twice as likely to be obese as those who do not. “
This is because the obese are trying to reduce their calorie intake and choose diet over regular.
And because they use diet as a treat or dessert rather than a calorie laden one.
The no sugar drinks aren’t making you fat. The laws of physics still apply.
They’re still better than NutraSweet.
The only time I tried fresh stevia, everything tasted metallic for a couple weeks after. So I ate less, and lost weight. Stevia diet works.
The stevia didn’t make that first drink sweet either.
I hear the same about margarine it’s one molecule from being plastic?.
The study was published in Cell and sponsored by Equal and Stevia....LOL Just kidding
I think that “bitterness” might be one of those genetic taste bud type things, kind of like some people dont know that cilantro tastes like lemon Pledge on an anus. When I eat stevia leaves there is a tiny taste maybe like a glass of weak tea. Some people just seem to get hysterical about the bitterness but I cant find it.
I frequently chew a stevia leaf with a mint leaf.
Stevia has a bitter after taste to me.
This year I would get a numb / pins and needles feeling below the knees and it would get worse as I slept that it would wake me up.
I stopped drinking Sunkist Orange zero sugar and in less then 2 days I feel great. It uses Aspartame and delicious phenylketonurics and phenyalanine.
Mayo Clinic: Federal regulations require that any beverage or food that contains aspartame bear this warning: “Phenylketonurics: Contains phenylalanine.
Phenylalanine can cause intellectual disabilities, brain damage, seizures and other problems in people with PKU.
Hmm... this may explain many things......
Erythritol - being one of the most harmless of sugar replacements,
is not without a few negative side effects.
But they are not that bad. It's a risk/reward trade-off.
It is very similar to Xylitol - but slightly better.
(And it used to be more expensive - but it's come down in price.)
I use it.
Erythritol Side Effects : Good, Bad...
.
NOTE: I also occasionally use Stevia - now that my stomach
no longer gets upset by it. My stomach did when I first tried it years ago.
I don’t like cilantro and hot and spicy. It really restricts me when my friends want to go to a Mexican restaurant.
I have not eaten margarine for 50 years. These days I fry with olive oil with a bit of butter added for flavor. I find I use less than a stick of butter a month.
I remember my mother canning with a pressure cooker. We ate canned (bottled) corn and green beans, as well as more acid foods. She made jams and jellies put in small glass containers with a 1/4 inch of hot parafin poured on top. You have to be careful to fill the jar so NO fruit is on the area where the parafin needs to touch to seal properly.
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