ARE ARTIFICIAL SWEETENERS BAD FOR OUR HEALTH?

Artificial sweeteners are now commonly used as non-calorific additives to sweeten foods and drinks, they are easily available and are cheap and because they can enhance the flavour they are commonly used in many products. Some studies have shown beneficial results in the role of sweeteners in weight loss and for people suffering from glucose intolerance and type 2 diabetes, however more recent studies are indicating opposing results. For example, many studies have found that because artificial sweeteners are many times sweeter than sugar (a conservative number is around 200-600 times sweeter) regularly consuming foods containing them can increase our desire for sweeter foods and make naturally sweet foods such as fruit seem tart and sour and vegetables and salads unappealing in comparison, making people avoid eating these foods which are highly nutritious. Research has also suggested that regularly consuming artificial sweeteners can prevent us from associating sweetness with calorific content, encouraging us to choose sweet, processed foods over natural healthy foods, which can then lead to weight gain.

Studies have also suggested that artificial sweeteners may be addictive and that people who drink “diet drinks” found that because their body expected to gain calories from an artificially sweetened drink and received no calories the person then tended to eat more unhealthy foods to provide the body with the energy it was expecting thus offsetting any weight loss or health benefit. So artificial sweeteners may encourage us to avoid healthy, natural nutritious foods and choose artificially flavoured processed foods with poor nutritional value. Artificial sweeteners were often recommended by the diet industry and some health professionals to prevent Metabolic Syndrome and Type 2 Diabetes, however a recent study found those who consumed diet drinks on a daily basis had a 35% and 67% increased risk of developing those diseases respectively.

Artificial sweeteners have also been found to alter the composition and function of our gut bacteria. There has been a lot of research recently into gut bacteria and the affect it has on our health, what can help to make our gut bacteria healthier, for example probiotics which can be found in live yoghurts, fermented foods and dietary supplements and prebiotics which are foods which feed these live cultures such as onions, garlic and chicory. However, research has suggested that artificial sweeteners encourage the growth of gut bacteria that can damage our health leading to conditions such as Type 2 Diabetes and obesity. At a conference on bariatric surgery (weight loss surgery such as the gastric sleeve) speakers had found that before surgery their patients had unhealthy levels of gut bacteria, but months after, when the patients had lost weight, the bacteria was much improved. The Science Museum in London displayed an experiment on mice a few years ago. They had two cages, one of obese mice one of slim mice. Mice eat each others poo, so they swapped the obese mice into the slim weight cage and vice versa. Interestingly, the experiment ended with the obese mice becoming slim and the slim mice becoming obese. They concluded that this was due to a change in the mice’s gut bacteria, with the obese mice benefitting from gaining healthy bacteria from the slim mice and because the bacteria from the obese mice was unhealthy the slim mice became obese. This effect has also been found in cases of human faecal transplants.

There are certainly going to be more studies and research into artificial sweeteners, but it is worrying to find that they are not the magic bullet that many thought they were when they were first introduced. I would suggest eating foods in their natural form such as whole fruits and vegetables because although they do contain sugar, they contain highly nutritious components such as vitamins, minerals, and fibre which break down slowly in your body. Eating refined and processed foods containing high amounts of sugar can rapidly increase blood glucose and insulin levels increasing the risk of diabetes, heart disease and other chronic illnesses.

Nicola Rose DipCH BSc (Hons) RNutr is a fully Registered Nutritionist and Clinical Hypnotherapist. She worked for a specialist NHS weight management service for many years. If you have any questions on this article please email Nicola at nrose2862@gmail.com