Are Artificial Sweeteners Better Than Sugar?
The use of artificial sweeteners in our food and beverage supply is increasing. This is due to the increase in awareness of the detrimental health impacts of consuming excessive amounts of sugar. Sugar-sweetened beverages are a major source of added sugars in the diet. The consumption of these drinks has been linked with weight gain. Drinking sugar-sweetened beverages have negative effects on metabolism through their ability to cause rapid spikes in your blood sugar and insulin levels. Drinking sugar-sweetened beverages has also been associated with a higher risk of developing type 2 diabetes and metabolic syndrome. With declining sales of sugar-sweetened beverages, it makes sense for companies to want to find and market an alternative.
Are artificial sweeteners better than sugar?
Artificial sweeteners and cardiovascular disease risk
A study by Debras et al. (2022) aimed to see whether artificial sweeteners from all sources (foods & beverages) impacted cardiovascular disease risk. 103,388 participants in this study were put into three groups, non-consumers, low consumers (7.46mg/day), and high consumers (77.62mg/day). Artificial sweeteners most represented were aspartame (#951), acesulfame potassium (#950), and sucralose (#955).
The results
There was an overall increased risk of CVD and cerebrovascular disease with total artificial sweetener intake. The increased risk of cerebrovascular risk was linked with aspartame consumption and the increased risk of coronary heart disease was related to acesulfame potassium and sucralose intake.
The leading cause of death worldwide is cardiovascular disease, it is important to reduce the risk of cardiovascular events.
Artificial sweeteners and human gut microbiome
A study recently published by Suez et al. (2022) explored the impact of non-nutritive sweeteners (NNS) on the human gut microbiome. The study involved 120 healthy adults who were put into 6 groups -aspartame, saccharin, sucralose, stevia, glucose control, and no supplement control. During the study, participants wore a continuous blood sugar monitor, kept food and activity logs, did glucose tolerance tests, had blood tests taken, and provided stool samples to test their gut microbiome among other measures.
What the results say
Saccharin and sucralose impair glucose tolerance in healthy adults. This means that these sweeteners cause your blood sugar (glucose) levels to be higher than they should be. Impaired glucose tolerance can lead to diabetes.
Aspartame, stevia, and glucose did not show a significant effect on glucose tolerance.
All sweeteners significantly and distinctly change the gut and oral microbiome. Aspartame consumption was associated with increased levels of kynurenine a metabolite associated with diabetes. The levels of indoxyl sulfate, a metabolite associated with vascular (blood vessel) disease increased with saccharin intake.
In another study by Debras et al. (2022), artificial sweeteners: aspartame, acesulfame-K, and sucralose were associated with increased cancer risk.
Artificial sweetener consumption has also been associated with weight gain, increased waist circumference, dyslipidaemia, high blood pressure, high blood sugar, metabolic syndrome, and high triglycerides.
Just when you think you are doing the right thing!
Both sugar-sweetened beverages and artificially sweetened drinks negatively impact our body’s ability to move glucose (sugar) from our blood into our cells (where it is needed). Additionally, artificial sweeteners increase our risk of having a heart attack or stroke.
From a Dietitian’s perspective, our first drink of choice should always be water! (Sorry guys!)
If water is just not doing it for you and you want something flavoured. Aim for options that do not contain artificial sweeteners and that are not high in sugar. Coffee, tea, and plain milk are great choices. You can try kombucha, unsweetened iced tea, flavoured sparkling mineral water, or add a dash of cordial or juice to soda or mineral water.
The good news
Not all hope is lost! We can retrain and re-sensitise our taste buds to sweet flavours. Our taste buds are regrown every 10 days to 2 weeks. If we can retrain our taste buds to find sweet flavours too sweet it gives us a fighting chance to reduce our consumption of sweet beverages. Which I know is not an easy feat!
References
Personalized microbiome-driven effects of non-nutritive sweeteners on human glucose tolerance (2022)
