Artificial sweeteners 🍬

[Guybrush]

How do you feel about artificial sweeteners? Do you opt for these over sugar?

My general stance has been positive. My reasoning is that too much sugar is known to be harmful. It can help cause or worsen diabetes, obesity and a range of associated health problems. If an artificial sweetener is healthier than sugar, it generally seems like a good alternative.

However, I'm sceptical of sucralose at the moment and am trying to avoid products that have it. The reason is a study that shows it damages DNA and may factor in causing leaky gut.

https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/10937404.2023.2213903

An interesting quote:

The amount of sucralose-6-acetate in a single daily sucralose-sweetened drink might far exceed the threshold of toxicological concern for genotoxicity (TTCgenotox) of 0.15 µg/person/day.

So whatcha think?

[grindy]

They're a viable way to decrease calorie intake for people who are overweight or just on a cut. There is way too much hysteria around them but I also think there's too much hysteria around sugar. If you eat a generally good diet (lots of fresh, whole foods, decent variety, not too much etc.) it most likely just doesn't matter whether and how much sugar or artificial sweeteners you eat, unless it's some ungodly amount.
I probably wouldn't change my diet habits based on one study. One can find studies to prove pretty much everything in the realm of nutrition and many of them have more or less serious methodological flaws. In the end all those little recommendations to eat or omit certain specific foods just don't matter that much compared to following some general eating and lifestyle guidelines.

[DJChameleon]

Some artifical sweetners are super bad for you and I much prefer to just eat something that is at full sugar instead of the "diet" or sugar free options and this is coming from a type 2 diabetic so I'm intimate with respects to how certain sugars affect my body and blood sugar numbers.

Diet substitutes are known to cause cancer.

[jimmy jazz]

In my non expert opinion just have the real thing but in moderation and within reason.

Whether that's sugar, full fat food or whatever else.

[innerspaceboy]

From my recent response to the Saturday 5 Pack:

Back in high school and college, I took my coffee with cream and 26 packets of sugar. I used to joke that I took my coffee "al dente." Thank god I tamed that habit down to just 2 packets of stevia, or else I'd be Wilford Brimley.

I swear by stevia. It's sweeter than sugar so I find I need just 1 packet for an 8oz cup of tea and 2 packets for a 12-16oz cup of coffee.

That change may very well have saved my life.

[DJChameleon]

I used to use stevia until I read an article about how it contains carcinogens. So I don't mess with it anymore. I switched to Agave honey as a sweetner.

[Guybrush]

Having read a bit on artificial sweeteners, I currently prefer aspartame. As far as I know, research overall has shown it to be safe. WHO recently did a big review and its current classification is possibly carcinogenic. A lot of stuff is possibly carcinogenic. They also made this conclusion:

JECFA concluded that the data evaluated indicated no sufficient reason to change the previously established acceptable daily intake (ADI) of 0–40 mg/kg body weight for aspartame. The committee therefore reaffirmed that it is safe for a person to consume within this limit per day. For example, with a can of diet soft drink containing 200 or 300 mg of aspartame, an adult weighing 70kg would need to consume more than 9–14 cans per day to exceed the acceptable daily intake, assuming no other intake from other food sources.

Aspartame also roughly has a dietary limit generally cited at 40-50 mg per kg of body weight, which is 10 times more than stevia (at 4 mg), so it seems much safer than stevia.

Stevia is a little sweeter than aspartame (200-300 times sweeter than sugar vs aspartame's 200), so you need a little bit less, but not by a factor of 10.

[degrassi.knoll]

Aspartame and sucralose actually make me feel ill, but I'm not big on sugar or sweets in the first place. Can't seem to buy a pack of gum without one or the other these days. Stevia has an aftertaste I don't prefer, but I'm not often using sweeteners to begin with. In cocktails I like agave nectar - or better yet, just give me the tequila straight.

Certainly not worried about carcinogens - a tv doctor buzzword if I've ever heard one.

[grindy]

Yeah, things being carcinogenic is often misunderstood. Often the dosage that would be dangerous is pretty much impossible to reach, often something "increases the risk of X cancer by 400%" but it just means that now 4 in 1 000 000 people would get sick instead of 1. Plus a lot of studies only look at mechanistic explanations but some reaction in a Petri dish doesn't necessarily happen that way in a human body. And when there actually is a study following real people it is often very hard to determine whether something is an independent risk factor or people who consume some food just generally tend to live a less healthy lifestyle.

[degrassi.knoll]

It's like how here in California we have signs everywhere (because of an old proposition) warning you that the materials of every building are potentially toxic and cancer-causing.

It's like, calm down Erin Brockovich, WE GET IT.

Next they'll be telling us our food is genetically modified. SpOoOoOky!

[Lexi Darling]

Yeah at this point I've probably read articles about every artificial sweetener being a carcinogen. I currently have a strict limit of one diet soda and one energy drink (if needed) per day so I don't think it's gonna be a huge problem.

At the moment I do not drink much other than that, iced tea (usually only lightly sugared) and water. On date nights or the mister's very occasional Taco Bell impulses, I'll have a full calorie soda. If I'm gonna get Taco Bell without getting a Baja Blast what is even the point.

[jadis]

Aspartame and sucralose actually make me feel ill, but I'm not big on sugar or sweets in the first place. Can't seem to buy a pack of gum without one or the other these days. Stevia has an aftertaste I don't prefer, but I'm not often using sweeteners to begin with. In cocktails I like agave nectar - or better yet, just give me the tequila straight.

Certainly not worried about carcinogens - a tv doctor buzzword if I've ever heard one.

I used to love mint gum but each time I buy it now it has this artificially sweetened coating and I have to spit out my saliva several times until it stops being disgusting and starts tasting like mint. Not worth the bother.