Every time there's some new diet drink popping up in our grocery store or TV advertisement, claiming to have no ill effects along with all the benefits.People prefer to keep the sweet taste and yet cut the calories so non-nutritive sweeteners (NNS) or artificial sweetener are essential for some people’s diets. But its effect on weight loss still isn’t fully understood, with some studies showing a bit of weight loss, while others show weight gain or no effect at all. How artificial sweetener effects our body is mostly dependent on the individual using the sweetener.But there are some reports that claim to have linked few artificial sweeteners to cancer, weight gain, and other dangerous symptoms. But we can’t be sure about those claims, so it most important to separate fact from fiction.The purpose of non-caloric artificial sweeteners (NAS) is to give an intensely sweet taste in small amounts and to replace the sweetness of sugar.
Health Benefits
Some studies have found that replacing sugar with these artificial sweeteners can help obesity, diabetes mellitus, and similar problems. The main purpose of artificial sweeteners is to provide zero or minimum calorie alternative to foods and beverages while maintaining the sweet taste. Replacing sugar especially in its refined form with artificial sweeteners in your own diet can be the best way to reduce your calorie intake.
Health Issues and Safety
The fact is that only a few artificial sweeteners like aspartame, sucralose, acesulfame-K and saccharin have been studied and cross-examined in-depth. Many clinical and lab data have covered only these sweeteners as they are found in most of our food product.There are many different artificial sweeteners in the market today. We will break down the above given artificial sweeteners and find out what the actual research has to say.
Aspartame
Virtually all sweet enhanced food has varied amount of aspartame. It came in 1965 and FDA initially endorsed it in 1974. But later thing went sour for aspartame due to a research in 2005 done in rodents, which have discovered that introduction to aspartame is related with cancer growths in rats and mice. The link was made to methanol, an aspartame constituent that metabolises into a notorious substance formaldehyde. However, the way our body process methanol (a by-product of aspartame) is quite different from those in rodents. Therefore, it is arguable whether the results of aspartame testing in rodent models can be applied to humans.The acceptable daily intake of aspartame by the FDA was set at 50 mg/kg of bodyweight, which equals to a whopping 18 to 19 cans of diet soda. Which tells us that the doses of aspartame required to pose a threat to humans are far larger than what any normal person could consume in a day. Human trial specifically shows no issues.At the most aspartame can be a cause of concern for those with a genetic disorder known as phenylketonuria or PKU (uncommon inherited ailment) since aspartame contains phenylalanine. Those individuals should avoid aspartame. Aspartame can cause dangerously high levels of essential amino acid phenylalanine. There’s also some indication which points to a possible relationship between aspartame and migraine headaches. For most of us, aspartame has always been safe in reasonable doses.
Acesulfame-K
ACE-K typically tags around one of the other sweeteners as an additional sweet enhancer. Acesulfame-K or Ace-k provides no calories at all it’s 200 times sweeter than table sugar and the human body doesn’t metabolize. One of the breakdown product of ace-k known as acetoacetamide is known to be toxic if consumed in very large doses. Most researches have been done on rodents on gut microbiome when mice were given a high amount of ACE-k. The human trial showed very less issue with ACE-K consumption. The amounts of acetoacetamide found in one spoon of Ace-k are way much below dangerous levels.
Sucralose
Also used in plenty of drinks and sweets, sucralose is most popularly known as Splenda. Extensive research shows that sucralose is generally safe but some research shows a connection between sucralose and leukaemia. But the issue here is the lack of evidence in humans.The human body doesn’t recognize sucralose as sugar, so it’s not metabolized as it should be, which again means it has zero calories. Majority of the sucralose we consume is removed as waste while remaining (11% to 27%) gets absorbed into the bloodstream through the gastrointestinal tract, and then removed from the blood by the kidneys, and finally removed through our urine.The typical person’s estimated daily intake of sucralose is lower than 1.6 mg/kg per day which is way below the acceptable daily intake (ADI) for sucralose which is 5 mg/kg body weight per day averaging out to about 165 packets of Splenda per day.There haven’t been any dangerous effects for sucralose on humans at all. But some research has shown a relationship between sucralose intake and migraine headaches.
Saccharin
Saccharine is the one that got a bad rap and a stain on its reputation. There were a series of animal studies which found a close relationship between saccharin intake and the development of cancer in rodents. Due to this, it was tried to be banned by FDA in 1977. Some studies do show a correlation between saccharin consumption and human cancer incidence but no study has ever shown a clear relationship between consumption of saccharin and health risks in humans (in normal doses).In a recent study, researchers have found that saccharine can cause glucose metabolism in rodents. Which made people believe it can cause diabetes.According to the study by Suez et al. pooled evidence from animal studies to showcase many dangerous effects of saccharine. These same authors also performed a study in which they directed high doses of saccharin to human subjects, then transplanted faeces from two human subjects to two rodents.This transplant caused some damage to the rats’ intestinal microbes, which in turn decreased their tolerance for glucose.Media clutched the results of this single study and heavily exploited them to the facts, laying offensive headlines like “Diet Soda Causes Diabetes.” which gave all the artificial sweetener a very bad reputation. The fact is that a lot more research is needed to be done to determine the effects of saccharin and other artificial sweeteners on the human microbiome. There’s no actual evidence to suggest that normal doses of saccharin pose any harm to humans.Saccharin has gotten vanished in today’s diet beverages and foods. It is only found in Tab and a few other fountain drinks, and in the sweetener Sweet’N Low, where it’s present in very small amounts.To match the dose which can be dangerous for humans according to Suez et al. one has to drink four cans of Tab, ten packets of Sweet’N Low, or fifty servings of a saccharin-containing fountain drink, which seems nearly impossible.Which comes to a conclusion that even saccharine is a pretty low-risk sweetener on a whole.
Weight Management and Diet
Many studies on humans have found that consuming artificial sweeteners doesn’t seem to decrease dieters’ total energy intake and randomized trials have also found that people who use these sweeteners in place of refined sugar can successfully reduce both their body fat and overall weight.The only people who should avoid consuming these artificial sweeteners are pregnant women, children, nursing mothers, and those prone to headaches, seizures or migraines. If you are not in this category, then you probably shouldn’t be worried about taking diet soda instead of regular soda.
The Bottom Line
The initial intentions of artificial sweetener were to reduce weight by reducing sugar intake. But new research shows that it is not actually good at doing so.A diet soda occasionally may not ruin your goals, but don’t use it as an excuse to eat more.Eat healthy and balanced diets and don’t overeat.
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