Step Away from the Splenda

Pink, yellow, and blue packets of sugary delight have been my kryptonite since 2007. My order of lemonade, iced tea, or coffee always came with a savory blend of mysterious chemicals.

You may guess that the mysterious chemicals I am referring to are artificial sweeteners: saccharin, sucralose, and aspartame, more popularly known by their brand names: Sweet n’ Low, Splenda, and Equal. Deceivingly cute brand names for some scientifically dodgy products.

(sciencenews.org)

Since the earliest production of artificial sugar began during World War I as a cheaper alternative to table sugar, thousands of products containing these alternatives have been manufactured. Yes, thousands! More recently, companies market these products as diet-friendly foods by advertising their zero calorie appeal with little opposition.

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Even President Roosevelt trashed the USFDA bureau of chemistry, Harvey Wiley, for protesting against formulated creamed corn with saccharin when he said, “Anybody who thinks saccharin is injurious to health is an idiot” (Goldberg and Williams, 1991).

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Currently, there is more opposition to formulating products with artificial sugar, but there are few long term studies to detail the effects of artificial sweeteners. However, there is enough information for you to be skeptical about ingesting relatively new, and potentially hazardous chemicals; well more skeptical than President Roosevelt.

The few studies performed on humans and other mammals have shown that frequently using artificial sweeteners could result in metabolic imbalances caused by changes to your microbiota, or healthy gut microorganisms.

Although it might seem yucky, you need these microorganisms to stay healthy, maybe even as much as they need you to live and sing “Zip-a-Dee-Doo-Dah”! Changing them by adding artificial sugar into your diet can result in glucose intolerance, which is just as serious as it sounds. Glucose intolerance is a state of hyperglycemia, or higher than normal blood glucose levels, which could develop into type 2 diabetes!

(lactobacto.com)

Results from a study performed on rats support the idea that artificial sugar could manifest glucose intolerance. The data showed that blood glucose levels from rats fed artificial sugar (6.13±.32mmol/l) were higher than rats which had not been fed artificial sweetener (5.83±.39mmol/l) (Andrejić et al., 2013). This spikes your blood glucose levels, which is not so diet-friendly.

Besides not being nice to your caring and thoughtful gut microbiota, artificial sugar has no calories, so you may feel unsatisfied and crave more food to compensate for the lack of calories; which defeats the purpose.

So next time you reach for those tempting pink, yellow, or blue packets, just remember that the long term effects of artificial sugars are still a mystery. Best of all, you can scare your one friend who is a diehard-artificial-sugar-using-addict by sharing the origin of Sweet n’ Low: Sweet n’ Low, the accidental invention from experimenting with coal tar derivatives.

Don’t be like Alice and eat dodgy things, you don’t live in Wonderland!

(daveyhwellness.com)

Notable References

Andrejić, B. M., Mijatović, V. M., Samojlik, I. N., Horvat, O. J., Ćalasan, J. D., & Đolai, M. A. (2013). The influence of chronic intake of saccharin on rat hepatic and pancreatic function and morphology: gender differences. Bosnian Journal of Basic Medical Sciences, 13(2), 94–99.

Goldberg, Israel., Williams, Richard. (1991). Biotechnology and Food Ingredients. New York: Van Nostrand Reinhold.

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