The Great Artificial Sweetener Debate (Part 1)

DISCLAIMER: This is quite a lengthy post, but I do encourage you to properly read it from start to finish.

The NZ government, and perhaps most western governments around the world, have been expressing a grave concern over what has been dubbed the "Obesity Epidemic". It appears that the population in general is growing, well, wider. Growing so much, in fact, that governments are noticing this and are attempting to publicise ways to combat this epidemic, and thus hopefully result in a healthier, "thinner" populace. One such initiative is to get people to "Push Play"; to get people off their seats and into the outdoors doing some form of exercise.

This is a good drive - but in my opinion, there is something more foundational that needs to be established firmly, if exercise is to succeed. That "something" is a person's food and drink intake.

Now, as I mentioned in an earlier post (my first one, I think), I admitted to being somewhat of a couch potato. Not the stereotypical channel-surfer mind you, but being a student I spend a lot of time either in front of a computer, or at a table. Books out, pens and paper out. Y'know, general studying. And as you can imagine, my time spent doing study seems to overshadow any such time that I could use for exercising my body.

This is the angle that the government is looking at, in order to curb the obesity levels that are running rampant throughout the populace. And because of this, people are - as a spinoff from this - looking at what they put into their bodies. And when it comes to food and drink choices, people tend to substitute what they would "usually" purchase for a "diet" or "lite" option, because of its low-to-no sugar (and possibly fat) content.

BAD IDEA!!!!

There is a mindset within wider society that if Joe Bloggs goes out and buys diet coke, or whatever "diet"/"lite" food and drink options are out there, then said Joe Bloggs is consuming less calories, less sugars, and therefore is putting on far less weight and thus keeps a trim figure. Have you ever thought that of diet foods and drinks?

You might ACTUALLY be surprised to know that these diet options are perhaps what has been contributing to the obesity epidemic. Have you ever thought of that?

The following is an excerpt by Mike Geary, a Certified Personal Trainer and Nutrition Specialist, who has written a brilliant no-spin article on artificial sweeteners. I am posting his article verbatim, because Geary explains them way better than I could.

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I wanted to talk about artificial sweeteners today because I've noticed that there's a lot of confusion and misconceptions revolving around these non-caloric sweeteners. Artificial sweeteners and the huge list of products sweetened with them are marketed to you relentlessly as "healthy foods" or "healthier" than sugar or corn syrup sweetened products. But are they really?

Just to clarify, some of the most popular artificial sweeteners on the market today are:

Splenda (sucralose)
Aspartame
Saccharine
Acesulfame Potassium (aka - acesulfame K)

These artificial sweeteners are used in abundance in almost every "diet" drink, "lite" yogurts, puddings, and ice creams, most "low-carb" products, and almost all "reduced-sugar" products. Heck, even most protein powders are loaded with artificial sweeteners too (just look on the ingredients and you'll usually see one or more of them).

Splenda is probably one of the worst offenders of claiming to be "healthy" as they say that it's made from real sugar. Don't be fooled! It's still an artificial substance. What they don't tell you is that Splenda is actually a chemically modified substance where chlorine is added to the chemical structure, making it more similar to a chlorinated pesticide than something we should be eating or drinking.

The truth is that artificial sweeteners are not even close to being healthy, and as you'll discover in a minute, can easily be just as bad for you, if not worse, than sugar or corn syrup. Most people think that they are doing something good for themselves by choosing the "diet" drinks or "lite" yogurts compared to the sugar-laden versions, but the problem is that you're exposing yourself to a whole new set of problems with the artificially sweetened drinks and foods.

I know you're probably frustrated by all of the contradicting messages you hear each day about which foods are good for you and which are bad. I'm sure just today you probably saw some clever ad or commercial somewhere screaming health benefits for a food product that is loaded with artificial sweeteners. Don't worry.

Just stick with me and I'll get past the marketing hype for you and decipher the truth. I'll also give you some ideas for great alternatives to artificial sweeteners as well as alternatives to sugar or corn syrup sweeteners.

The fact is, artificial sweeteners vs. sugar or corn syrup is really just a battle between two evils. Which evil is worse?

I'm sure you already know the problems with sugar or high fructose corn syrup sweetened products. The excess empty calories, blood sugar spike, and resulting insulin surge this creates in your body not only promotes fat gain, but also stimulates your appetite further, making things even worse.

On the other hand, artificial sweeteners save you calories, but there's growing evidence that they can increase your appetite for sweets and other carbohydrates causing you to eat more later in the day anyway. Therefore, you don't really save any calories at all. Also, studies have shown that artificial sweeteners can stimulate high insulin levels in your body too, which again can promote fat storage.

All of the 4 artificial sweeteners listed above are nasty chemicals that the human body is simply not meant to ingest. However, most of us are ingesting a whole lot of these chemicals on a daily basis. Aside from the problems I touched on so far, other health issues that have been related to artificial sweeteners in scientific studies as well as observations are:

• some have been linked to potential cancer risks
• negative effects on the liver, kidneys, and other organs
• stimulating cravings
• gastrointestinal problems
• developmental problems in children and fetuses
• headaches
• and too many more issues to list

Now some of the above potential health problems are definitely not proven as fact in studies. However, some of them have been shown in animal studies given high doses. Regardless of the fact that any real health problems for actual human use are not proven yet, I don't know about you, but I'd rather protect myself and steer clear of these possibly dangerous artificial chemicals.

Of course, despite all of the health issues potentially associated with artificial sweeteners, the companies that sell the products will continue to claim that they are fully safe and they have studies that prove that they are safe. The bottom line is that the body was not designed to deal with foreign substances like artificial sweeteners. Take my word on that one.

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I will finish at this point, but in the very near future I will write a Part 2 to this post, because one of the main problems with artificial sweeteners is that there are as many viewpoints re their safety as there are people! In other words, who do you ultimately listen to when it comes to artificial sweeteners? Industries may tell you one thing, and doctors may tell you another, and so on. This is further complicated by the fact that there is no uniform decision regarding artificial sweeteners, and thus they continue to be marketed.

For now, before I write a Part 2, let me say that you are far better off without artificial sweeteners. And if you wish to avoid ingesting them, look out for these particular ones, by name and by number (where the E stands for Emulsifier, and may not necessarily appear in the ingredients list; the number by itself means the same thing). These ones appear more frequently in the marketplace:

• Phenylalanine
• Acesulphane potassium (aka Acesulphane K - E-950)
  
• Aspartame (E-951 and E-962)
• Sodium Saccharin (E-954)
• Sucralose (E-955 - also known as Splenda)

If you are also a regular diet drinks fan, then you will most likely be ingesting one or more of the above list. Watch this space for Part 2, which will outline in a little more detail, what these chemicals really do to your body.