We all want a little sweetness in our lives and what is wrong with that? Nothing, as long as it really is a little and it is in a form our bodies can recognize and process.
Those pretty little yellow, blue, and pink packets seem so innocent, but artificial sweeteners are far from innocent. They come with a laundry list of issues that the food companies don’t talk about.
For starters, let’s be clear that they are just as the name implies – ARTIFICIAL. They are not food. Our bodies do not recognize them as food and they are a burden to the human body. Through some bad science and clever marketing, we erroneously believe that not only are they doing us no harm, but they are a good sugar substitute that helps us to lose weight. This is clearly not the case. Since artificial sweeteners have been put in our food products we have seen a massive increase in average weight, obesity, diabetes, and other metabolic diseases. For something that is supposed to help with weight loss, this is a giant fail.
Did you know that humans are hard-wired to enjoy sugar and seek it out? We are programmed to be attracted to sweetness because sweetness means glucose and glucose means energy and energy means survival. Glucose, a simple form of sugar, is our primary fuel source and a preferential energy source for the brain. An interesting thing happens when we eat sugar. It not only provides energy to the brain and body, but also sends a surge of dopamine, the “feel good” neurotransmitter to our brains. This dopamine release causes us to reinforce the behavior that caused it – eating sugar. Unfortunately, this survival behavior has become a problem in our modern world. Our built in sugar affinity can cause sugar cravings and addictive behavior and with sugary foods and beverages at our fingertips, we can easily overindulge.
So what to do with this quandary?
Artificial sweeteners to the rescue? – NOPE!
They seemed to be a good solution to limiting sugar consumption while still satisfying those cravings, not to mention adding to the food companies’ bottom lines. Seemed is the operative word here.
Pink, Blue, Yellow…Let’s take a closer look at these fake sugars.
We have a selection of artificial sweeteners at our disposal with saccharin, aspartame, and sucralose topping the list. Their history involves economics, the war efforts of WWI and WWII, and an obsession with calorie counting. Although they are prettily packaged now, they began as coal tar, an ulcer drug, and an insecticide.
Saccharin
Quite by accident, saccharin was invented in 1897. A scientist experimenting with uses for coal tar – the black tarry residual from burning coal – found a substance that was extremely sweet – 300 times sweeter than sugar. (Coal Tar, by the way, is full of hazardous substances and is classified as a known human carcinogen.) This substance, benzoic sulfimide, became known as saccharin. Someone decided it was a good idea, primarily for economic gain, to add this sweet substance to food and, voila, artificial sweeteners were born. Coal tar was a nuisance by-product, so finding some use for it was a bonus. Two decades later, counting calories came to the attention of the American public after Dr. Lulu Hunt Peters published Diet and Health with Key to the Calories in 1918. Simultaneously, Americans were urged to reduce consumption of sugar and other foods to support the WWI effort. This combination of events made it a prime time for sugar substitutes to infiltrate our food. Although there was some concern about saccharin being toxic and it was temporarily banned in 1912, it had the support of President Teddy Roosevelt and was “needed” as a sugar substitute during the war effort, so the concerns went by the wayside. Saccharin was used widely in diet sodas and all sorts of foods until the 1970’s when it was taken off the market again because of a link to cancer in laboratory rats. However, subsequent testing did not support a link to cancer in humans, so saccharin, that coal tar derivative, is currently approved by the FDA.
Aspartame
Aspartame is an artificial sweetener that was accidentally discovered in 1965 during ulcer drug research. It is 200 times sweeter than sugar and has been approved by the FDA for general use in foods since 1996 with an acceptable daily intake (ADI) of 50 mg/kg body weight. It is classified by the World Health Organization (WHO) as a possible human carcinogen. Although it has been the subject of controversy and research, the FDA believes the upper limit is sufficiently protective and has determined it to be generally recognized as safe (GRAS). Aspartame metabolism creates compounds that are detrimental to the brain and body including compounds that interfere with neurotransmitter regulation. Studies have shown that aspartame affects the brain and has neurobehavioral effects including irritability, depression, and cognitive impairment at concentrations well below the ADI. The depressive effects were so prominent in a study of people with depression, that the study was suspended for safety reasons. Because of the widespread use of aspartame, people might be consuming considerable amounts of this artificial sweetener which may create problems, especially for children given their smaller size. Aspartame is found in more than 6000 foods and commonly used in diet soda, chewing gums, and all sorts of products marked as sugar free or low calorie. Like other artificial sweeteners, aspartame has been added to food to reduce the consumption of sugar and the negative effects of that consumption. However, this substitution has not decreased obesity nor been beneficial to health.
Sucralose
Sucrolose is an artificial sweetener that is frequently marketed as a natural sugar, but it is not. It was initially created in a laboratory as an insecticide, but when it was found to be 600 times sweeter than sugar, it was marketed as a low calorie sugar substitute. Splenda is a sucralose sugar substitute, but only 5% of Splenda is actually sucralose. The remaining 95% is maltodextrin and dextrose (corn sugar). Sucralose is made in a laboratory by chlorinating sucrose. It does not occur naturally. Furthermore, it may be linked to causing diabetes, Crohn’s disease, irritable bowel syndrome, leaky gut, creation of carcinogens when used in cooking, and contributing to weight gain. According to the FDA, sucralose is an acceptable sugar substitute, but the public is misled when they are told it is natural.
Our obsession with calories has caused us to approach nutrition with blinders. There is much more to nutrition than calories, but in an effort to eliminate calories at all cost, we have replaced natural substances that our bodies can digest with fake products that they have to work hard to eliminate. While substituting sugar with zero or low calorie alternatives may seem like a good solution for weight control, it turns out to have backfired. There has been an upsurge of artificial sweeteners used in food since the 1970s. Since the 1970s, obesity rates in the United States have nearly tripled! Substituting artificial sweeteners for sugar has not worked as an obesity control measure, nor has it been beneficial to human health.
We cannot fool the body…
The body is a complex system that cannot be duped. When we eat sugar a series of processes are triggered starting with the sweet taste landing on our tongue (it may even start before this when we see or smell something we recognize as sweet!) The brain is alerted to expect glucose. Dopamine is released. If the food is artificially sweetened, no glucose is sent to the brain and the brain is left wondering why. Because the brain is expecting glucose, it sends out a request for more food, triggering us to eat more. Artificially sweetened food and beverages lead to overeating and weight gain rather than weight loss.
More Bad News…
The bad news doesn’t end with overeating. Studies on artificial sweeteners have shown that they:
- Negatively impact the gut and the gut microbiome
- Stress the liver
- Negatively impact blood sugar regulation
- Increase type 2 diabetes risk
- Increase cardiovascular disease risk
- increase abdominal obesity
- Increase cortisol
- Decrease serotonin
- Increase free radicals
- Promote depression
- Promote irritability
- Contribute to cognitive impairment
The full extent of how these artificial sweeteners affect our bodies has not been researched. We do not really know what these compounds are doing to us. We do know that they are science projects created in laboratories, not by Mother Nature.
“All disease begins in the gut” – Hippocrates
Our bodies do not know what to do with artificial compounds. They have to figure out some way of breaking them down, detoxifying them, and eliminating them. This puts a strain on our gastrointestinal system and liver and other organs including the heart. The gut and the gut microbiome are the cornerstone of human health. Artificial sweeteners negatively impact the gut and the gut microbiome. They cause a decrease in the beneficial microbes while causing an increase in the “bad” or pathogenic microbes. An increase in pathogenic microbes is associated with disease. These fake foods also stress the liver which plays a major role in detoxification.
Artificial sweeteners also negatively impact blood sugar regulation and increase the risk of type 2 diabetes. Good blood sugar regulation is key to health and longevity. Artificial sweeteners increase the risk of cardiovascular disease. They also may lead to increased belly fat or abdominal obesity which is directly associated with elevated blood pressure, elevated bad cholesterol, inflammation, insulin resistance, cardiovascular risks, stroke risks, and cancer risks.
Aspartame is specifically associated with neurologic issues and increases in cortisol and free radicals and decreases serotonin production. Cortisol and free radicals indicate oxidative stress which is associated with a range of health conditions from DNA damage to compromised brain function.
What to do instead?
Step 1: Make the Decision
Decide to get artificial sweeteners out of your life. This may not be easy, but your future body will thank you. I have heard many people say that they love their diet soda and they have it instead of coffee or it’s just one, etc. That is a personal decision, but make it an informed decision. Know that when you are drinking diet soda, you are detracting from your health. You are ingesting a compound that has dubious origins and has all the health implications discussed above.
Step 2: Read Labels
Read labels to find out what foods contain artificial sweeteners. Artificial sweeteners show up in many unexpected places, so beware. Coffee syrups, nut butters, English muffins, chicken nuggets, breakfast cereals, yogurts, and protein powders are among foods that you wouldn’t think contain artificial sweeteners, but they sometimes do. Look out for words like “zero-calorie”, “low-calorie”, “sugar-free”, ‘sugarless”, and even ”skinny”. Unfortunately, many foods marketed to children contain artificial sweeteners including soda, cereal, yogurt, gum, puddings, granola bars, sports drinks, and chewable vitamins.
Step 3: Reduce or Eliminate
Reduce or eliminate artificially sweetened foods and beverages you are consuming. If you typically consume a large amount of artificial sweeteners, you will need to retrain your brain to kick the sweet addiction. You can start with gently decreasing the amount of sweet foods and beverages you are drinking. Once you’ve whittled down the amount, you can try healthy swaps for the artificially sweetened food or drinks. You might replace some of the artificial sweeteners with healthier all natural sweeteners like honey, maple syrup, dates, fruit, coconut sugar, turbinado sugar, or cane sugar, but don’t go hog wild on this. Although many of these natural sweeteners come with healthy phytonutrients, eating too much sugar in any form has its own issues. (Check out my sugar blogs for the full story.) There are also some low or no calorie natural sweeteners like stevia and monk fruit that may be helpful. But remember there is so much more to nutrition than calories. Instead of diet soda, you might try seltzer water with a splash of fruit juice or maybe kombucha, a gut-friendly fermented beverage. Simply increasing your water intake can help alleviate the perceived need for a sweet beverage.
In a nutshell…
You would not put bad fuel in your car, so why would you put bad food in your body? Our bodies are amazing and incredibly resilient. Although they require nutritious food to function, their resiliency enables them to handle some bad food. But continuously bombarding them with bad food will lead to dysfunction and disease. Artificial sweeteners are bad “food”. They are created in laboratories not by Mother Nature. They do not have any nutritive value – no vitamins, no minerals, no antioxidants, etc. Not only do they make us fatter, but they also contribute to a range of health conditions and diseases from inflammation to neurological issues. It is time to read labels, know what foods they are in, and kick these health detractors out of your life.
I’d love to hear your artificial sweetener elimination stories or maybe tips you have to get these fake foods out of your life.