Humans have an inborn fondness for sweet food. Studies have proved a preference for sweet-tasting nutrition in newborns. (1) Therefore, mankind has always added sweet sub-stances to their food.
Obesity has become a major health issue and a risk factor for many lifestyle-related diseases. The consequence of the same being that more and more people are becoming calorie-conscious. Sugar-free food is becoming very much popular because of its less calorie content. Not just in the food industry but even in households the focus is shifting from high-calorie sugar to various artificial sweeteners that are low in calorie content.
More and more products are being introduced into the market as artificial sweeteners. However, many are questioning the long-term impact of these low/zero-calorie sweeteners. Let us find out more about artificial sweeteners in this article.
Artificial Sweeteners
Artificial sweeteners are also called non-nutritive sweeteners (NNS), low-calorie sweeteners, or intense sweeteners. They taste sweet and are widely used as an alternative to sugar. The primary reason is that they provide more intense sweetness and no or a few calories per gram of the sweetener. These artificial sweeteners are widely used in beverages, dietary products, drugs, and even mouthwashes.
Six of the artificial sweetening agents have received a generally recognized as safe status from the United States Food and Drug Administration. These are aspartame, saccharine, sucralose, neotame, acesulfame-K, and stevia and two more namely swingle fruit extract and advantame have been added in recent years to this ever-growing list.(2)
Extensive marketing strategies by the manufacturers of artificial sweeteners have led to overuse, and sometimes even their abuse, by the population. They are believed to suppress hunger and appetite, thus having a beneficial effect on body weight. they are consumed by both lean and obese alike. A huge number of diabetic patients opt for these “sugar-free” sweeteners as a substitute for sugar in their diet.
It has been observed that artificial sweeteners have a bad reputation and some tend to believe that it is harmful to health, increase the risk of excessive weight gain, metabolic syndrome, type2 diabetes, cardiovascular disease and can even cause cancer.
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Initial Studies
Artificial sweeteners are said to be carcinogenic as a study found that they caused cancer in rats. One of the initial studies was done in the 1970s which used saccharin at high doses and was found to cause bladder cancer in rats. (2) But in later years, it was found that the effect of saccharin was unique to just rats.
Another study that made many heads turn, called “Ramazzini studies”, found that there were higher rates of cancer in rats from low-level aspartame exposure. But when the studies were scrutinized, there were quite a few discrepancies such as using older rats for the aspartame group and younger rats for the control group and no randomization. Additionally, the study has never been replicated since.
Despite the presence of unscientific articles in the mass media and scientific press, there is no evidence that the artificial sweetener aspartame bears a carcinogenic risk. (3)
Current Research
Also, with current research and meta-analysis across the varied population (lean, overweight, male, female, and obese groups), there was no support found for negative impact. Either the effects of low-energy sweetened beverages on body weight was neutral relative to water, or found to be beneficial in some contexts.
Very heavy artificial sweetener use (>1680 mg per day) leads to an increased relative risk of 1.3 for bladder cancer in humans. A more precise determination of the exact agents is not possible, because many artificial sweeteners are combined in current food products. (3)
Food and drug association approved Aspartame in 1981 and said that it is one of the most exhaustively studied substances in the human food supply, with many studies supporting its safety. (4)
Acceptable Daily Intake (ADI) Levels
The Acceptable Daily Intake (ADI) for Sucralose is 5 milligrams per kilogram body weight per day which is 100 times less than the amount that caused no negative health effects. Even as per the ADI, a 60kg (132 pound) person would need to consume 23 sucraloses (Splenda) packets to reach ADI. (5) For Aspartame, the ADI is 10 times, i.e 50mg/kg/day. (6) An eight-ounce can of coke zero has just 58mg of Aspartame.
Artificial sweeteners, consumed at a daily acceptable limit, can help in limiting carbohydrate and energy intake as a tool to manage weight or blood glucose. Energy allowance should be calculated by the dieticians for each consumer based on age, sex, nutritional status, and physical activity. (7)
Do artificial sweeteners aid in fat loss?
Studies have consistently shown beneficial effects on weight and cardiometabolic health when sugar-sweetened and other energy-dense beverages and foods were replaced by artificially sweetened replacements. (8)
If used as a replacement for sugar, artificial sweeteners can reduce the overall calorie consumption. If you consume 5tbsp sugar (50gm) in a day, it would amount to 200Kcal. Using sweeteners instead could save these 200kcal that can be either used to create a deficit or have food with high satiety. Having low energy sweetened beverages as a replacement for sugar could help but it is necessary to not overdo as an excess of anything could eventually be harmful.
This being said. it is also true that obesity results from a multitude of factors of which diet is only one. Artificial sweeteners and sugars are only two of many aspects of diet. It is unreasonable to expect that modification of a single aspect of diet will have a major impact. Other factors like basic physiology, behavior and the environment also contribute to obesity, and modifying these also becomes necessary for fat loss. (9)
The overall use of artificial sweeteners remains controversial. You can use them to a certain extent but overusing them is not advisable. It would be helpful if you do some self-research about the benefits and adverse effects of the long-term use of the artificial sweeteners that you may be using. If you are suffering from any health-related conditions like diabetes etc. you may consult your doctor regarding advice of the same.
Do you use any artificial sweeteners daily? If yes, let us know which artificial sweetener do you use in the comments section below.
Author : Anshul Dhamande, INFS Faculty, Standard Coach @ Fittr
Dr Pooja Nilgar (Content writer and editor)
References
- Maone TR, Mattes RD, Bernbaum JC, Beauchamp GK. A newmethod for delivering a taste without fluids to preterm and terminfants. Dev Psychobiol 1990; 23: 179 – 191
- Fukushima S, Arai M, Nakanowatari J et al. Differences in suscepti-bility to sodium saccharin among various strains of rats and otheranimal species. Gann 1983; 74: 8 – 20.
- Weihrauch, M.R. and Diehl, V., 2004. Artificial sweeteners—do they bear a carcinogenic risk?. Annals of Oncology, 15(10), pp.1460-1465.
- US Food and Drug Administration, 2018. Additional information about high-intensity sweeteners permitted for use in food in the United States. US Food and Drug Administration: Silver Spring, MD, USA.
- Baird, I.M., Shephard, N.W., Merritt, R.J. and Hildick-Smith, G., 2000. Repeated dose study of sucralose tolerance in human subjects. Food and Chemical Toxicology, 38, pp.123-129.
- Tjuin, C.C.F., Muhamed, A.N.B., Liyanage, A.S. and Saha, M.D.S.B., 2019. A Study on the Effect of Aspartame and Glucose on Post-Prandial Blood Glucose and Cognition. American Journal of Food Science and Health, 5(3), pp.158-166.
- Sharma, A., Amarnath, S., Thulasimani, M. and Ramaswamy, S., 2016. Artificial sweeteners as a sugar substitute: Are they really safe?. Indian journal of pharmacology, 48(3), p.237.
- Nadolsky, K.Z., 2021. COUNTERPOINT: Artificial Sweeteners for Obesity—Better than Sugary Alternatives; Potentially a Solution. Endocrine Practice, 27(10), pp.1056-1061.
- Benton, D. (2005). Can artificial sweeteners help control body weight and prevent obesity? Nutrition Research Reviews, 18(1), 63-76.
