Nutrition is one of the most widely discussed subjects on the internet. Therefore, you can find anything you want about any subject related to nutrition in an instant. Lately, one of nutrition’s hot topics is undoubtedly artificial sweeteners, that are considered by many to have an impact on cancer, diabetes and other chronic diseases. Despite all the information available, most people who follow diets remain uncertain if they should or shouldn’t use artificial sweeteners, not knowing if they are or not safe and also because of doubts regarding their influence on fat loss.

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After all, what are artificial sweeteners?

This is a concept used to define a mixture of individual additives that can also be known as nutritive sweeteners or non-caloric artificial sweeteners, being that the most well-known ones are aspartame (100-200 times sweeter than sugar), sucralose (600x sweeter than sugar), saccharine (300-400x sweeter than sugar) and acesulfame-k (100-200x sweeter than sugar). These are used in numerous soda products branded as “light”, “diet” and “zero”, bubble gum and other products.

What is the main use for artificial sweeteners?

Artificial sweeteners bring to life the production of food and drinks containing “zero calories”, which traditionally are filled with sugars. Since these are from 80 to 700 times sweeter than sugar, a smaller amount can be used to provide the same amount of sweetness to a certain food. Artificial sweeteners provide a sweeter taste when compared to sugar, but provide none of the calories found in sugar. By substituting a food or drink that contains calories for one that’s branded as “zero calories”, not only will we economize within our daily calories but also leave room to ingest more nutritious food.

Why are there concerns around the use of artificial sweeteners?

Mainly it’s due to the media’s sensationalism, who fill headlines 24/7, and also due to our relationship with food, which is a highly emotional and cultural subject. When some new food appears, we tend to be precautious and skeptical, it isn’t easy for us to accept innovation.

What does science say about artificial sweeteners?

Media have associated artificial sweeteners to cancer, diabetes and other health problems, one of the most criticized in the industry being aspartame. Aspartame was approved for human consumption in 1974 and the recommended dose was 50mg /kg of body weight. Contrary to what people believe, it would be necessary to consume numerous grams of this sweetener for it to pose a threat to our health. These facts are overlooked many a time in mass media and, in aspartame’s case, even the scientists stated that comparing rats to humans was unfair because the physiological differences that this sweetener provoked were numerous. That was when, in 2006, after many news headlines about aspartame, that it’s effect on humans was reevaluated based on more than 100 toxicology studies and clinical trials testing its safety. It was proven to be safe for humans. More recently, in 2013, the European Food and Safety Administration confirmed aspartame’s position as non-carcinogenic.

Recently there have been theories stating that the intake of artificial sweeteners can diminish our tolerance to glucose and damage our intestinal microbe population. Studies are being held to find out the truth behind these allegations.

Who should use artificial sweeteners?

For the conscious athlete who needs to lose fat, these artificial sweeteners can be a sword with two ends. Very few are the athletic efforts that allow an athlete not to worry about his body composition and body fat. Sports like bodybuilding or that focus on weight lifting are perfect examples. So, you should always bear in mind that sweeteners can affect our satiety, because these foods and drinks that are sweet but offer no caloric value can partially activate our food reward pathways. When our food reward system is only partially satisfied, we’re programmed to look for more calories later, which can constitute a potential problem for those who follow intuitive diets, because they don’t monitor their daily caloric intake.

Basically what we know is that we have a tendency to compensate for the calories que save, by using artificial sweeteners instead of sugar, consuming these calories at the end of the day. This could be a positive aspect if we were trying to maintain our weight – less calories ingested from sugary foods with few vitamins and minerals and more calories from food sources that are healthier overall. But, if we’re purposefully using artificial sweeteners to lose weight, it would be best to control our caloric ingestion so that we can make sure we’re consuming less calories than we burn!

The main reason for use of artificial sweeteners is to try and fulfil our wishes of eating the food we really love while we’re dieting, without them having a big caloric impact. So, these sweeteners can be useful in limited quantities.

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Sweeteners and body composition.

There is still no definitive answer to show the relation between these two factors, because there are no clinical studies that have been done for long enough time to prove a causal relationship between the use of sweeteners and weight gain or loss. It is known that artificial sweeteners can provide enjoyment of the foods we most love with the advantage of a low caloric index. This way they provide mental freedom.

In conclusion:

– Artificial sweeteners are substances 80 to 700 times sweeter than sugar, but have a low caloric index.

– Artificial sweeteners are safe for human consumption when used in moderate doses, being that it would be necessary to greatly exceed their use for the safety levels to be breached.

– Sweeteners can negatively influence the intestinal microbe population, which can have negative impacts on metabolic health, but this has not been conclusively proven to be true on humans and it’s clinical significance is arguable.

– If we use artificial sweeteners it’s advised we control our caloric consumption because the ingestion of sweet with fewer calories than our body “expects” can lead to over eating because the body will want to get what it expected to have in order to compensate.