A is for Artificial Sweeteners

Simple, Practical, Science-Based Tips for a Long Healthy Life

My social media feeds have been full of headlines claiming that artificial sweeteners are “toxic” and “devastating” for health. Scary stuff, but should you chuck your packet of sweetener in your morning coffee and replace it with sugar?

Personally, I don’t like the taste, or specifically, the aftertaste of artificial sweeteners (and, in the nutrition world we call them non-nutritive sweeteners because they provide no nutrition, including calories) and I always drink my coffee black. But my personal preference is for taste, not safety concerns.

The first headline grabbers were from a report from the World Health Organization (WHO) titled the “Health effects of the use of non-sugar sweeteners: a systematic review and meta-analysis.” This 210-page document was not intended to verify the safety of sugar substitutes as they have undergone toxicological assessments by several authoritative agencies around the world to establish safe levels of intake.

This review found that using sugar alternatives resulted in only a modest, short-term body weight and blood sugar reduction when used in conjunction with a low-calorie dietary pattern. There is no evidence that they are beneficial for weight reduction in the long run. As for any negative health effects, they found the existing research to be inconclusive. Nowhere in the report does it say sugar substitutes are deadly or toxic.

Following on the heels of the WHO report, new headlines zeroed in on sucralose (sold as Splenda) as breaking up our DNA, therefore “genotoxic.” Even scarier stuff, right? To be clear, sucralose or Splenda was not used in the study from researchers at North Carolina State University They used a compound called sucralose-6-acetate, a compound formed in trace amounts after sucralose is consumed and metabolized. This compound was exposed to blood cells in the lab, called an in vitro study, as opposed to an in vivo study, or occurring in the body. The results showed that DNA was damaged, genotoxic, when blood cells were exposed to the compound. That “genotoxicity” is potentially dangerous if similar damage were to occur in humans because that would theoretically increase the risk of cancer if the body was unable to repair the damage. “All in vitro work is a good starting point but a lousy endpoint,” says Dr. Bob Murray, co-author of Food & Fitness After 50. “We need to see studies using healthy humans to determine if sucralose metabolites actually cause DNA damage that the body doesn’t repair.”

 According to the Food & Drug Administration, “to determine the safety of sucralose, the FDA reviewed more than 110 studies designed to identify possible toxic effects, including studies on the reproductive and nervous systems, carcinogenicity, and metabolism.”

We know that many things are genotoxic when exposed to cells in a lab…. for example, alcohol is identified as genotoxic. The dose makes the poison, as the saying goes.

However, as research evolves and new methods to evaluate the safety of any compound we eat or drink, regulatory agencies should monitor the use and reassess their evaluation when needed.

What Does It Mean For You?

• Don’t replace artificial sweeteners with sugar. We should all cut down on the amount of sugar we consume, so don’t swap one for another.
• Remember, that the artificial sweeteners are hundreds of times sweeter than sugar, so using a packet in your coffee or tea or on oatmeal is not a huge health concern.
• If you use artificial sweeteners in addition to, but not as a substitute for sugar, it probably won’t cause weight loss or improve your health.
• Sometimes we focus on the small things and forget the big picture. Eat more fruit, vegetables, whole grains as you try to improve your diet instead of looking for a magic bullet to cut calories and lose weight.
• Science evolves and any new insights into how a substance might affect our health deserves to be studied or re-evaluated; unfortunately, clickbait headlines never give us the whole story.

Next up….S is for Snacks. But there’s a twist and we will be talking about a snack that you might not be thinking about!

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