Recent studies reveal that artificial sweeteners can increase your chances of cardio disease and related problems. As per the recent surveys it has been published in The Indian Express that “sweeteners are good but not in the long run” says Dr Anoop Mishra, Chairman, of Fortis CDOC Hospital for Diabetes and Allied Sciences.
As they are called non-nutritive sweeteners, artificial sweeteners have no such nutritive potential and are believed to be prepared chemically. Reviews are on the loose that many people who have so far consumed diet colas and consumed artificial sweeteners on regular basis are still gaining weight to their surprise. Likewise, many others who have a sweet tooth have taken sugar replacement with artificial sweeteners doing no additional benefits to their system. Researches reveal troublesome problems.
Artificial sweeteners are around 30-1300 times sweeter than natural sugar as they contain sucralose. They are widely used these days in the preparation of beverages, dairy products, processed foods, desserts and many more. Many other sweeteners may also contain saccharine, acesulfame, neotame, cyclamate, etc out of which only some have been safely recommended by the FDA, USA.
The Indian Express has also previously mentioned a plant-based natural sweetener Stevia that has been used in Japan since the 1970s but has yet not received FDA approval. However, it has been promoted s diabetes and tooth-friendly and also ideal for inducing weight control. All individuals who are on the spree of weight loss and think these sweeteners can help them to achieve so and cut down calories must know that anticipation of weight loss can land them into difficult diseases such as diabetes. Although, they believed that low sugar intake in diet will do some good to their health in the long run studies have revealed that hypertension, obesity and Type 2 diabetes are occurring contrary to their expectations.
Yet, the world craves these sweeteners with a firm belief of goodness associated with them. In a recent major study, it has been carefully mentioned that “NNS (non-nutritive sugar) beverages have no acute endocrine or metabolic effects and as a result, they are being massively used in beverages without thinking about the future consequences. A WHO review of 2022 concluded that long-term weight loss has not been proven with these artificial sweeteners. However, cola companies have neglected and opposed such a notion. In a recent large French study (NutriNEt-Sante, 2022), people taking such sweeteners over 8 years are associated with an overall risk of breast cancer and obesity-associated cancer. The use of acesulfame-k and aspartame has been crucially responsible for this. The possible cellular mechanism for the induction of cancer includes DNA damage and inflammation.
A few days ago ‘Natural Medicine’ published that erythritol combined with stevia can also induce thrombosis, causing the risk of heart attack or stroke within 3 years of life span. The effect of erythritol can remain in the body for a few days and hence many experts have also suggested that FDA and other regulatory agencies should revise their guidelines as to which artificial sweeteners can be consumed safely over a prolonged period. You can find more about such findings in Dr Mishra’s book ‘Diabetes with Delight’.