Artificial sweeteners

Khannie

So.....I've been using artificial sweeteners as part of a calorie restricted diet to help me lose weight over the last while. In particular I use them in coffee. I noticed that there are some in the vanilla whey I was using before too. I'm at my target weight now, so it's maintenance calories from here on so I'm looking at how I can change my diet.

Anyway...here's the thing....

I know they're not good for you, but sugar has its own downsides. So given this choice, which is better: White sugar or artificial sweetener?

edit: I've been using candarel, but recently picked up some "cologran" in lidls. Taste the same. They're just a 10:1 ratio of sodium cyclamate to saccharin.

g'em

Perhaps use a spoon of honey to sweeten drinks and continue to use sweeteners in moderation. Don't be afraid to use sugar, but use it sparingly and perhaps just as a treat (like with lemon on pancakes!) or eat it around training time when the extra calories and insulin spike will be put to good use.

There are a lot of "anti-sweetener" folk out there, should any of them wish to post on this topic and make "sweeteners cause cancer/tumours/hair-loss" or whatever other inflammatory claim is du jour I will simply ask that you back it up.

To date I have seen one journal paper that links chemical sweeteners with cancer, but a) it was carried out in the 1970s, b) the method of sweetener administration was super-dosing c) the animals used were rats.

Since then a very large study was also carried out by scientists at the National Cancer Institute, involved 340,045 men and 226,945 women, ages 50 to 69, participating in a research project by the National Institutes of Health and AARP, formerly known as the American Association of Retired Persons.

From surveys they filled out in 1995 and 1996 detailing food and beverage consumption, researchers calculated how much aspartame they consumed, especially from sodas or from adding the sweetener to coffee or tea.

Over the next five years, 2,106 developed blood-related cancers such as lymphoma or leukemia, and 376 developed brain tumors. No link was found to aspartame consumption for these cancers in general or for specific types.

Source: National Cancer Institute.

Khannie

g'em wrote: »

There are a lot of "anti-sweetener" folk out there, should any of them wish to post on this topic and make "sweeteners cause cancer/tumours/hair-loss" or whatever other inflammatory claim is du jour I will simply ask that you back it up.

To date I have seen one journal paper that links chemical sweeteners with cancer, but a) it was carried out in the 1970s, b) the method of sweetener administration was super-dosing c) the animals used were rats.

This is what I had found too: Plenty of anti-sweetener people, but the only study I could find (I used wikipedia) is almost certainly the one you mention above.

On the canderel site I found that there is an "Acceptable Daily Intake" level of their (aspartame based) tablets that works out at 90 per day for someone my size. I would average probably 3 per day. 6 tops.

When you're restricting calories to a fixed number it seems like an easy trade off to make; 4 artificial sweetener tablets saves you enough calories for a small apple.

Anyway, I think I'll stick with them for now. Maybe use half and half. Thanks.

EileenG

From personal experience, I find that aspartame stalls fat loss for me. Other sweeteners (including the LIdl one) don't seem to have the same effect. I just make my own sugar-free jelly with gelatin and whatever sweetener I have handy. I'm about to start growing my own stevia.

A friend with a diabetic brother checked his blood glucose levels using a blood measuring device, gave him a Pepsi Max (no sugar, just aspartame) and then tested his blood again. His blood glucose reading had risen significantly, even though he hadn't ingested any actual sugar or carbs. Not something for non-diabetics to worry about, but might be worth bearing in mind. Don't combine diet drinks with high fat foods.

cozmik

First off I'm not "anti-sweetener" I believe that the less one eats of highly processed ANYTHING, the healthier one will be. Everyone is free to make up their own mind, do their own research, choose their own foods. Regardless of your choice, I hope you have a long, healthy life.

FYI

Professor Terry Davidson and associate professor Susan Swithers, both in the Department of Psychological Sciences, found that artificial sweeteners may disrupt the body's natural ability to "count" calories based on foods' sweetness. This finding may explain why increasing numbers of people in the United States lack the natural ability to regulate food intake and body weight.

...

Swithers said that the loss of the body's ability to gauge caloric intake contributes to increased food intake and weight gain, especially when people do not count calories on their own. A similar dynamic is at work with foods' texture and thickness.

"Historically, we knew that our body learns that if the food is thick, such as whole milk, it tends to have more calories than compared to a thinner liquid such as skim milk," Swithers said. "Now, our research reinforces this and takes it one step further, showing that our bodies translate this information about perceived calories into a gauge to tell us when to stop eating."

...

"Increased consumption of artificial sweeteners and of high-calorie beverages is not the sole cause of obesity, but it may be a contributing factor," Swithers said. "It could become more of a factor as more people turn to artificial sweeteners as a means of weight control and, at the same time, others consume more high-calorie beverages to satisfy their cravings."

http://www.purdue.edu/UNS/html4ever/2004/040629.Swithers.research.html


From the LA Times

"I don't think we have the answer, and I don't think these authors are claiming that they have definitive evidence that this is causing the obesity epidemic in humans," says Richard Mattes, professor of foods and nutrition at Purdue University.

But, he adds, "They are posing an interesting and testable question."

http://www.latimes.com/features/health/la-he-sweetener17mar17,1,517680.story

Khannie

cozmik wrote: »

Regardless of your choice, I hope you have a long, healthy life.

That's really nice. Thanks.

Nice post also. Cheers.

Eileen: Interesting on the pepsi-max thing. I was looking at "sugar free syrup" today on the internet (it was partly marketed at diabetics). I wondered if something like that would produce the same insulin response as a sugar without the sugar.