When you order coffee in a restaurant, and you reach to grab a pack of sugar, it’s likely that you will get some kind of artificial sweeteners such as Sweet n Low or Equal besides regular table sugar. Perhaps you have heard of them, or you may even be a user, but do you know what they really are and whether they impact your health?
What are Artificial Sweeteners?
They are zero calorie sugar substituting chemicals that are widely used in many foods and drinks such as candy, baked goods, gum, juices and soft drinks. All of them have very intense sweetness of at least 150 times sweeter than sugar. When consuming within an appropriate amount, artificial sweeteners can reduce probability of many health issues such as diabetes, obesity and heart diseases.
Many Different Kinds of Artificial Sweeteners are Sold in Store
Source: Sweet Rehab
There are many artificial sweeteners available commercially. All artificial sweeteners need approval from The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA). Currently, five artificial sweeteners have received FDA approval- Acesulfame, Aspartame, Neotame, Saccharin, and Sucralose. Stevia is often used as an artificial sweetener as well, but since it’s actually a plant, it doesn't need FDA’s approval. In addition, before they can be used to prepare food, they have to be “generally recognized as safe” (GRAS) as food additives, which means the FDA agreed that if they are consumed within an appropriate amount, they are safe and non-hazardous for the public. In the following table, we can find the corresponding brand names for each sweetener.
Common Artificial Sweeteners and Their Trade Names
According to Fox News, people spent more than 9 million dollars on artificial sweeteners in
2010 alone. Apparently, the sweeteners were attractive. So, what are the benefits they bring? Why are they better than sugar?
Reduce risk of and manage diabetes
Excess sugar and carbohydrate is the main reason of diabetes. Because artificial sweeteners don't contain any sugar, they don't rise blood glucose level and can satisfy people’s sweet craving at the same time.
Reduce obesity and help weight losing
As artificial sweeteners don't have any calorie, they are ideal for whom try to lose weight. For example, each teaspoon of sugar contains 16 calories; a regular soda has 8 teaspoons of sugar, which is 128 calories. If one cuts one can of soda each day, he can lose 13 pounds of weight in one year. Also, reducing obesity can decrease the risk of other issues such as high blood pressure and stroke.
Prevent teeth decay
Because artificial sweeteners are not broken down by saliva and bacteria in our mouth like sugar does, they do not contribute to cavities. One of the artificial sweeteners, Saccharin, is actually added to some toothpaste to give them a sweet taste.
Any health concerns bring by artificial sweeteners?
People in different decades have debated whether some artificial sweeteners cause cancer. Over the years, many lab studies have proven that most of these substances are in fact safe for us to use. The followings are some of the cases.
Aspartame
There is a myth saying that Aspartame is cancer-causing. A report published in 1996 stated that, the use of Aspartame might had caused brain tumor. Yet, National Cancer Institute statistics report found that, brain tumor rate began to rise in 1973, which was 8 years before Aspartame was approved by FDA. So there was not enough evidence to conclude that Aspartame is related to brain cancer.
Saccharin
In 1970s, it was related to the cause of bladder cancer, but further study showed that it only happened on rats, which the saccharin was tested on in the laboratory. Since the body structure of rats is different from human, there was a higher chance for rats to get cancer from consuming saccharin, but it doesn’t apply to human.
Some people are also concerned whether artificial sweeteners would bring negative effect to our body after they are broken down during digestion. Are we really consuming extra chemicals from artificial sweeteners? On the Aspartame resource center website, one article talks about an interesting fact about Aspartame: during digestion, aspartame is broken down into aspartic acid, phenylalanine, and methanol then enter your bloodstream. If you don't have a science background, you may find these words terrifying. But in fact, these are chemicals that present in the foods you eat every day. The following chart sourced from the U.S Department of Agriculture can further demonstrate this point:
Amount of Aspartate and Phenylalanine Present in Different Foods
Source: U.S Department of Agriculture
Apparently, in this case, aspartame only produced very a limited amount of other chemicals, which the amount is significantly lower than even a large cup of milk. This tells that despite there are chemicals from the sweetener, they are rather safe and don’t really negatively impact our body.
How About the Taste?
Different artificial sweeteners taste differently for different people. Some of them may leave after-taste in foods. Several sweeteners such as Sucralose and Acesulfame Potassium are heat-proof and can be used in baking and cooking. Yet, since artificial sweeteners don't have identical taste, users may need to modify the recipe, try out different sweeteners, or make a blend to get the best result.
Here is a video of someone doing a taste test, trying to find out which sweetener has the most similar taste with table sugar.
After all the information above, it’s quite convincing that artificial sweeteners bring no harm to our health. People with health issues may strongly consider replacing sugar with the sweeteners in their diet. However, if you have sensitive taste buds, you should experiment with the many kinds of sweeteners to find out your favorite.
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