Are Artificial Sweeteners Bad For You?

This tends to be a highly contentious topic out there, are artificial sweeteners safe? In Short, Yes. I’m not going to go in-depth on this topic, but I will instead provide a general statement about sweeteners:

Sweeteners have been shown to be a safe alternative to sugar and can easily be a part of a healthy diet. They have not been shown to cause cancer, or related to causing any other disease. In fact, quite the opposite. Studies have shown that using sweetener as a replacement for sucrose was effective in helping individuals lose body weight, fat mass, and lower blood pressure. Any claims suggesting they are unsafe were done in animal models and the levels of sweeteners used were insanely high; in the one study, the equivalent amount of sweetener used in a human would be 2000+ cans of Diet Coke – yes, that high. One possible “bad” thing I see about the use of sweeteners is: they are much sweeter than sugar, and with their overuse they could lead to less satisfaction of sweetness cravings. This could lead to over consumption of sweet-like foods in order to satisfy that craving.

Here is verbatim from a review article on Aspartame: Aspartame has been approved for human consumption by regulatory agencies in more than 100 countries and received wide consumer acceptance with consumption by hundreds of millions of people over the past 20 years, representing billions of man-years of safe exposure.

If you enjoy a comical, but science supported, read about aspartame, check out this article; the images below are from this post.

I asked Andrea Hardy, Dietitian & Owner of Ignite Nutrition to weigh in on this topic, this is her response:

“The research is clear, and constantly getting updated with more and more evidence. Bottom line, Sweeteners are safe. Science is science, and ‘Dr. Google’ often contains opinions, rather than facts.”

Here are the practical takeaways about Sweeteners:

• Common artificial sweeteners are safe. Aspartame, acesulfame-K, stevia, saccharin, and sucralose are all well researched, and shown to be safe in doses we humans are exposed to in soda, etc.
• Saccharin, stevia and cyclamate should be avoided during pregnancy.
• Some new research suggests that bacteria in our gut may metabolise sweeteners differently, and may influence our gut microbiome – but not a lot is known about this yet.
• Sweeteners MAY create physiological and biochemical response it on our body – studies are on the fence as to whether intake of an intensely sweet, calorie devoid beverage ‘tricks’ our brain into associating a very sweet food with minimal calorie consumption. Potentially leading to an increase of calorie intake.

Like many things with food, and in life: moderation is key. Whether you choose to use sweeteners or not, it is still important to eat a well-balanced diet consisting of fruits, vegetables, whole grains and lean proteins. But don’t let the media scare you about the use of sweeteners, at least not without some concrete evidence-based science to back up their claims.  So, go ahead, enjoy your diet pop – in fact, I encourage it.

Till next time,

-Mike