[ad_1]
Saccharin – the first artificial sweetener – was discovered by accident when, in 1879, Johns Hopkins University Professor Ira Remsen noticed a sugary substance on his hands after experimenting with different chemicals in the lab.
Saccharin quickly became extremely popular, mainly because of its cheapness. It was especially prevalent during World War II, when real sugar was scarce.
Today, artificial sweeteners are at the heart of the huge non-diet, sugar-free food and beverage market. Their appeal today is not just how cheap they are, but also their potential to combat the growing threat of obesity and its health effects.
Saccharin is over 200 times sweeter than sugar but contains no calories. Does this mean we should replace all sugar with artificial sweeteners? Or are there other factors to consider?
We asked 8 experts “Are artificial sweeteners better for you than sugar?” The consensus was 63% “likely”. Here is what we found out.
What are artificial sweeteners and how do they work?
Artificial sweeteners provide the sweet taste of sugar but without the calories. There are two main categories of artificial sweeteners: sugar alcohols and high intensity sweeteners.
Sugar alcohols are structurally similar to sugars but less easily metabolized, while high intensity sweeteners are small compounds that are several times sweeter than sugar. High intensity sweeteners include saccharin and aspartame.
Even though artificial sweeteners provide little or no calories, that doesn’t mean they’re inert. Artificial sweeteners interact with the T1R family of sweet taste receptors in the mouth and gut, which can have metabolic effects.
They can also interact with the bacteria that make up the gut microbiome. Different sweeteners can differ in their effect on the body.
Is there a link between artificial sweeteners and cancer?
Concerns that artificial sweeteners could be carcinogenic stems from a 1978 study that found that rats fed saccharin developed bladder cancer. Since then, it has been shown that this only occurs in rats, and saccharin does not do not cause cancer in humans.
Not only saccharin, but all FDA and EU approved artificial sweeteners have been tested in both laboratory animals and human data. None of the approved sweeteners are linked to cancer.
Do Artificial Sweeteners Help You Lose Weight?
The main attraction of artificial sweeteners is that they can replace sugar. There is plenty of evidence to suggest that high sugar intake is bad for your health. Sugary drinks in particular can lead to weight gain, metabolic disease, and type 2 diabetes. It follows that replacing sugar with calorie-free sweeteners could lead to weight loss.
Many studies have investigated whether replacing sugar with artificial sweeteners results in weight loss. A 2018 meta-analysis, which combined the results of 56 different studies, concluded that in most cases, groups of people using artificial sweeteners did not lose more weight than those using sugar.
However, overweight or obese people who switched to artificial sweeteners lost more weight than their sugar-eating counterparts.
Other meta-analyzes have also shown that, overall, switching from sugar to sweeteners has a neutral to positive effect on weight loss. The fact that there is no clear result may be due to the complexity of these experiments:
1) There are many types of sweeteners, each of which can have different effects on weight loss.
2) Diet changes other than switching to sweeteners could be confusing. University of Sydney biochemist Dr Kieron Rooney explains that the whole diet is important because “there is evidence – in humans – that co-consuming artificial sweeteners with other foods can have an interaction effect such that the energy absorption is modified “.
3) The impact of the sweetener on weight loss is likely to depend on the individual’s original weight and diet, a finding that was found in the 2018 meta-analysis study.
Some scientists have attempted to explain why, on average, people don’t lose weight with artificial sweeteners and, in some cases, gain weight.
Nutritionist Dr. Cornelie Nienaber-Rousseau explains that the effect of sweeteners on the food reward system “may help increase appetite, fuel foraging behavior and encourage sugar cravings.” She adds that “the non-caloric artificial sweetener appears to alter the gut microbiome.”
Both of these explanations are plausible, but require further research before we can be sure of their effects.
Epidemiologist Gideon Meyerowitz-Katz sums up that “it’s possible that artificial sweeteners are worse for people than water – although that’s an open question – but when it comes to sugar, everything indicates that artificial sweeteners are probably a little better. “
No quick fix to the obesity crisis
Overall, given that artificial sweeteners are essentially calorie-free, the data on their positive health effects may be a bit disappointing.
This could explain the observation of Professor Jennie Brand-Miller of the University of Sydney that “the prevalence of obesity and overweight has tripled in [the last 50 years] despite the popularity of low-calorie sweeteners and their ubiquity “.
On the other hand, there is a lot of evidence that they are safe and not linked to any cancer. It remains to be seen whether they have other effects, perhaps on our sugar cravings or on our microbiome.
Takeaway meals:
Sugar-free alternatives, especially drinks, could be beneficial for someone trying to lose weight or improve their diet. However, data suggests they aren’t the healthiest option available – while a diet drink might be better than a sugary drink, the water might be even better.
Article based on 8 expert answers to this question: “Are artificial sweeteners better for you than sugar?”
This expert response was published in partnership with the independent fact-checking platform Metafact.io. Subscribe to their weekly newsletter here.
[ad_2]
Source link