DIET AND FITNESS:
Related Articles
Artificial Sweeteners --Are They Bad
for Your Health?
January 29, 2009, Last Updated September 2, 2010
By Susan M. Callahan, Associate Editor and Featured Columnist
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Most people have only 2 questions about artificial
sweeteners--what's in them and can they harm me?
Now that the world is divided into people who take their
sweeteners in blue, pink or yellow packs, here at Collective
Wizdom we thought it was time to answer these 2 basic
questions for our readers.
The research on artificial sweeteners is extensive and growing.
The problem is that most of the research has been motivated
by pro and anti groups, so you have to step carefully among
the thorns. However, from the numerous studies on all of the
sweeteners, 3 results have emerged. Artificial sweeteners
appear to increase your risk for developing Type 2 diabetes.
Second, one artificial sweetener --- saccharin-- triggers the
insulin response in high doses and in very high doses has been
linked to increased risk of cancer. Third, aspartame (blue)
causes headaches in some people.
Here's the low-down on the pink, blue and yellow packets we
all can't seem to live without.
1. Saccharin-- the Pink Packets.
Benzoic sulfinide. Produced when anthranilic acid is mixed with
nitrous acid, sulfur dioxide, chlorine, and then ammonia to yield
saccharin.
What's In it?
Risks: Although saccharin has no food energy, it can trigger the
release of insulin in rats, apparently as a result of its taste.
In its acid form, saccharin is not water-soluble. The form used
as an artificial sweetener is usually its sodium salt. The calcium
salt is also sometimes used, especially by people restricting
their dietary sodium intake. Both salts are highly water-soluble:
0.67 grams per milliliter water at room temperature.
Early studies linked ingestion of high concentrations of
saccharin with increased risk of cancer. As a result, the US
Food and Drug Administration previously required that
saccharin packages carry a warning label to that effect. Canada
completely banned its use. However, the pro and anti
saccharin groups were unable to resolve the issue of whether
saccharine causes cancer, and the FDA has removed the
requirement of a warning label.
2. Aspartame-the Blue Packets. Aspartame is the methyl ester
of the dipeptide of the natural amino acids L-aspartic acid and
L-phenylalanine. This is why early marketing efforts described
it as made from natural amino acids. Aspartame (also marketed
as Equal and NutraSweet) is 180 times sweeter than common
white table sugar.
After you ingest it in your body, aspartame breaks down in
various chemicals. including aspartic acid, phenylalanine,
methanol, and further breakdown products including
formaldehyde, formic acid, and a diketopiperazine.
Yikes! Formaldehyde. That can't be good. In fact, aspartame
was criticized in the 1980's by various groups as a suspected
cause of brain cancer. The uproar caused the FDA to convene a
Public Board of Inquiry to examine the issue of aspartame's
link to brain cancer. That group concluded that aspartame does
not cause brain cancer. Subsequent battles between pro and
anti aspartame groups have never conclusively settled the
issue. The FDA has approved aspartame's use in beverages and
various foods.
From personal experience, I can say that when I drink too
many sodas with aspartame, I soon get a headache and feel
slightly off balanced when I walk. When I stop drinking the
sodas with aspartame, the symptoms disappear after a few
days of drinking only water.
3. Splenda --the Yellow Packets. Splenda's packet states that it
is a combination of 3 things: Dextrose, maltodextrin and
sucralose. Splenda's sucralose component is produced by
selective chlorination of sucrose (table sugar), in which three
of the hydroxyl groups are replaced with chlorine atoms.
When words end in "ose" it means that they are sugars. White
table sugar is sucrose. Sugar in the form that it exists in your
blood is glucose.
So Splenda is made up of various sugars :dextrose",
"sucralose" and something called maltodextrin. Dextrose and
maltodextrin are added to bulk up sucralose. These bulking
agents also add calories. Even though Splends is marketed as a
"no calorie" product, each yellow packet actually contains. 3.1
calories. In the Us, the FDA allows companies to market a
product as "zero calorie" if it has less than 5 calories per
serving. Hmmm.
Splenda has no food (actually, it has very little) energy, so it is
recommended as a sweetener for diabetics. Sucralose is
approximately 600 times sweeter than sucrose (table sugar),
twice as sweet as saccharin, and four times as sweet as
aspartame.
No research study has shown that Splenda triggers the insulin
response, unlike saccharin. So, Splenda should not trigger food
cravings. No research study has linked Splenda with increased
risk of cancer, unlike saccharin.
Recently, various groups have attacked Splenda because it's
chemical creation requires the use of chlorine. In this respect ,
it is similar to saccharin. Others have attacked Splenda because
of its potential effect on the thymus and because it is alleged to
cause inflammation of the liver.
A report from NICNAS cites two studies on rats, both of which
found "a significant decrease in mean thymus weight" at high
doses. The sucralose dose which caused the effects was 3000
mg/kg/day for 28 days. For a 150 lb (68.2 kg) human, this
would mean an intake of nearly 205 grams of sucralose a day,
which is equivalent to more than 17,200 individual Splenda
packets/day for approximately one month. The dose required
to provoke any immunological response was 750 mg/kg/day,
or 51 grams of sucralose per day, which is nearly 4,300
Splenda packets/day.
4. Stevia--sometimes Green packets. Stevia comes from a plant
native to South America and parts of Central America. The
species that produces Stevia is called "Stevia rebaudiana
Bertoni". It has various other common names ---"sweet leaf"
or "sugarleaf".
When you taste a little of it, stevia tastes like sugar. When you
taste more than 15 drops of it, stevia has an aftertaste that
reminds me of licorice. It is this problem of an aftertaste,
sometimes described by new users as "bitter", that has
impeded Stevia's rise in the American, Canadian and European
markets as a sugar substitute.
Stevia is 300 times sweeter than sugar. Stevia's taste has a
slower onset and longer duration than that of sugar, although
some of its extracts may have a bitter or licorice-like aftertaste
at high concentrations.
The US FDA and the Canadian authorities have approved Stevia
as a food supplement but not as a food additive, all of which
means you can buy it standing alone but you won't find it used
to sweeten your sodas and other commercial ready-made
products.
Stevia is possibly an natural alternative for diabetics and people
who are overweight or obese. Stevia has also been found
effective in lowering blood pressure in new research.
Coke and Pepsi have been successful in convincing the FDA to
approve a Stevia-derived product as a food additive. Rebiana is
the trade name for a zero-calorie sweetener containing mainly
the steviol glycoside rebaudioside A (reb-A), which is extracted
from stevia. Truvia is the consumer brand for Rebiana
marketed by Cargill and developed jointly with The Coca-Cola
Company. Last month, in December 2008, the United States
Food and Drug Administration permitted Rebiana-based
sweeteners as food additives. PureVia is the PepsiCo and
Merisant brand of Reb-A, for which PureCircle is the supplier.
It's good to be Coca-Cola and Pepsi, right?. They have
succeeded where many others have failed, in creating an entry
point to market Stevia in America.
Diet soda consumption appears to significantly increase the risk
that you will develop Type 2 diabetes, according to a study by
the National Institutes of Health. However, the causal link is not
understood. As a precaution, you should avoid diet sodas,
especially of you are already overweight and at risk for
diabetes.
Learn more about sugar and its health effects: Sugar The
Disease Connection/ Ideal Breakfast for Diabetics/ Foods That
Lower Your Blood Sugar/Top 10 Health Dangers of High
Fructose Corn Syrup
More Related Links
Break Through Your Diet Plateau
How Many Calories Do I Burn
Quinoa-The New Superfood?
Break Through Your Diet Plateau
How Many Calories Do I Burn
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