Artificial Sweeteners
Do you ever take a sip of diet soda, surprised at how delicious and similar it tastes to the sugar and calorie filled original, and wonder, how is this possible? You can thank artificial sweeteners for that. An artificial sweetener, or sugar substitute, is a food additive that duplicates the effect of sugar in taste, but has less food energy (Tandel). The FDA has approved six artificial sweeteners to be used in foods and drinks, including: saccharin, aspartame, sucralose, neotame, acesulfame potassium and advantame. (Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition). Sucralose, commonly known as Splenda, is the most popular, along with aspartame, commonly known as Equal (O’Connor). These sweeteners range from 200 to 13,000 times sweeter than sugar (Tandel). In the United States, the most popular use of artificial sweeteners is diet beverages, but they are also commonly found in sugar free candies, gum and other processed foods (O’Connor). Despite worry from many, the FDA has labelled these sweeteners as safe for use among the US population. (Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition). The United States’ overconsumption of regular sugar is associated with negative health outcomes, like obesity, type 2 diabetes and metabolic syndrome, huge issues that need to be addressed, (Tandel) but are artificial sweeteners the answer? Looking at how these sweeteners are metabolized in our body, their effect on weight, blood sugar, taste preferences and appetite will give a closer look on how they really affect our body, allowing you to decide what best fits your diet and lifestyle.
Artificial sweeteners are used in place of sugar for a variety of reasons. A common reason is to assist in weight loss. Because of their absence of calories, people attempting to lose weight can enjoy sweets and foods they love, while still sticking to a specific diet, or remaining in a calorie deficit (Tandel). Eating foods they enjoy will likely allow them to commit to the pattern of eating for a longer amount of time. People with diabetes may also choose to use them to enjoy a more varied diet, and to reduce the spike in blood sugar that regular sugar can cause (Tandel). Artificial sweeteners can also be used to enhance and extend flavors, like in fruity gum. Lastly, many consume these sweeteners because they perceive they are healthier overall than sugar, associating less calories and grams of sugar with “healthy.” (Tandel).
So, consuming foods and beverages sweetened with these products seems like a sure-fire way to aid in weight loss, right? A clinical trial involving children tested the result when the children switched from sugary sweetened beverages to diet beverages. The children who switched had less weight gain and less fat accumulation after 18 months than the children who continued drinking the normal beverages (O’Connor). Another study (Ebbeling) consisted of adults who consistently drank sugar sweetened beverages. They were split into 3 groups, those who continued to drink the sugary beverages, those that switched to water and those that drank artificially sweetened drinks. Over the 12 months, markers of metabolic health did not change, but those who continued to drink the sugar sweetened beverages gained a large amount of abdominal obesity, close to 10 pounds. While this does not indicate weight loss from switching to artificially sweetened beverages, it does show that it may prevent weight gain, and that sugary drinks have more of an impact on abdominal fat than zero calorie beverages (Ebbeling). Artificial sweeteners may have a place in assisting with weight loss, but to see results, additional dietary changes may need to be made, along with an active lifestyle.
On the contrary, some studies have found correlation between artificial sweeteners and weight gain. The reason being increased appetite, food reward and increased sugar dependence. Generally foods with sweet flavors, whether they be real sugar or artificial, increase appetite. Aspartame sweetened water increased an appetite rating in healthy adult men. Also when compared with glucose water, the aspartame water increased appetite more (Yang). Meals eaten after drinking artificially sweetened water also had no change or an increased energy intake in people, while the glucose sweetened water drinkers had decreased energy intake (Yang). Food reward and how pleasant taste affects our brain also can be a cause in weight gain related to artificial sweeteners. Sweetness without the calories partially activates food reward pathways, but not completely. This lack of satisfaction may lead a person to desire more food, and therefore intake more calories (Yang). Lastly, if a person consistently consumes artificially sweetened foods and beverages, their taste preferences for sugar can change, making them desire stronger and stronger sweet flavors (Yang). Once again, if someone continues to crave more and more sugar, caloric intake may increase, leading to weight gain.
These different studies show the evidence on weight gain/loss and artificial sweeteners is mixed, which may seem confusing. These sweeteners may impact people differently. If you are only eating them occasionally, weight loss or gain from them should not be much of a concern. If you are having them regularly and are worried about their potential effects on weight, talk to your doctor or a dietitian. Additionally monitoring how you feel after consuming them, like your hunger, satiation and overall sugar cravings can help you detect if they are having an effect that may cause you to make other food choices that may increase your weight.
One misconception with artificial sweeteners is that because they have no calories, they have no effect on our metabolism, digestive processes or gut microbiome, but that is not the case (O’Connor). A controversy in the safety of artificial sweeteners is their effect on our gut microbiome. Saccharin and sucralose have been found to shift the populations of gut microbiota leading to dysbiosis. Sucralose seemed to decrease the amount of bifidobacterium and lactobacillus, two important microbes (Ruiz-Ojeda). Saccharin also changed the microbiome, leading to a change in metabolic pathways linked to glucose tolerance, though the study needs more clinical trials on humans done. (Ruiz-Ojeda). Artificial sweeteners can also interrupt your normal metabolism processes. Typically when we consume sugar, our pancreas releases insulin to regulate our blood sugar that spikes after sugars or carbohydrates are consumed. This process can change when we are consuming artificially sweetened food and beverages that contain no sugar or sometimes even no calories. The sweet flavors you get from them sends signals to the brain and GI tract to prepare for sugar. When no energy enters the body, insulin does not know how to react, therefore throwing off traditional metabolism (O’Connor).
Deciding whether artificial sweeteners are the right choice for you to use is personal to every individual. Even with the controversies of them, it is important to remember the FDA has labelled these additives as safe, and therefore, no extreme caution should be taken in having them occasionally. Just as regularly sweetened products are often a treat, artificially sweetened ones should be seen in the same light. Just because a product has no calories, does not mean it’s not affect our body. Whether you choose artificially sweetened foods, or those with regular sugar, remember to keep your intake limited and try to choose naturally sweet foods, like fruit when you are craving something sweet.
If avoiding artificial sweeteners is important to you, or just knowing in general what is in the products you consume, learning to read food labels is important. When shopping at the food store, you may notice many products that advertise “zero grams of sugar,” “zero calories” or “low sugar” but do those actually mean what they claim? Learning how to read food labels and being aware of how artificial sweeteners are labeled is important to making educated choices about your food. Despite expert’s recommendations, marketing of sugar sweetened beverages in particular, to parents and children, as well as convenient packaging contributes to the popularity of these beverages. Adding to the push of these products, labelling is confusing, with pictures of real fruit, nutrient claims, like “all-natural”, and sugar claims like “no sugar” or “no added sugar” (Harris and Pomeranz). It gets even more confusing with artificial sweeteners in the mix, as most are only listed in the ingredient list under their chemical name, which may not be known to the general public. In terms of children’s drinks, 74% of juices and waters contain artificial sweeteners (Harris and Pomeranz). In a stimulated shopping study, only 23% of parents shopping for children’s beverages recognized they contained artificial sweeteners, but yet they seek out products that claim to have “low sugar” a common claim on artificially sweetened products (Harris and Pomeranz).
This lack of obvious information to the general public, may mislead them into purchasing and consuming artificial sweeteners when they don’t desire to, thinking they are making the healthiest choice. Companies of food products are not required to state what sweetener is used and food labels only have to include total and added sugar, a place where artificial sweeteners do not have to be recorded. (Harris and Pomeranz). Additionally, the US labelling laws do not require artificial sweeteners to be disclosed on the front of packaging or to use their common name, meaning shoppers must be aware of chemical terms and read through the whole ingredient list in order to identify if a product contains artificial sweeteners (Harris and Pomeranz). Educating yourself on how to identify artificial sweeteners in products is key to being in charge of your health and what you put in your body. Firstly, if something sounds too good to be true, it probably is. Extremely low or no calorie packaged foods or beverages that advertise their low calorie contents and low sugar contents often have artificial sweeteners. As much as you may wish, it’s simply impossible to make sodas, sweets and juices with no type of sugar, sweeteners or calories! When you see products marketed like this, make sure to look at the ingredient list for artificial sweeteners chemical names, like sucralose, aspartame, saccharin, neotame, advantame and acesulfame potassium. Food and beverage companies want consumers to believe they have created some magical way for you to eat your favorite foods without any calories or consequences, in order to sell their products. Keeping up to date on the labelling laws and what to look out for keeps you, and not a food brand, in charge of what you consume. Bottom line; because of the way our food is labelled it is up to the consumers to make sure they know how to look out for artificial sweeteners, so don’t forget to check out your food’s nutrition label!
Regardless of whether you choose to include artificial sweeteners in your diet, knowing their positive and negative health outcomes is important. Understanding how to look out for them on labels, what product claims on packaging mean and how to properly read an ingredient list and nutrition label will all be helpful in letting you make informed decisions on what ingredients you do and don’t want to consume. Keeping in mind that all types of sugar are a treat, and should be consumed in moderation, will allow you to eat in a balanced way, while still enjoying your favorite treats from time to time.
Written by Carley Higgins on behalf of Supriya Lal
Works Cited
Harris, Jennifer L., and Jennifer L. Pomeranz. “Misperceptions about Added Sugar, Non‐Nutritive Sweeteners and Juice in Popular Children's Drinks: Experimental and Cross‐Sectional Study with U.S. Parents of Young Children (1‐5 Years).” Pediatric Obesity, vol. 16, no. 10, 2021, https://doi.org/10.1111/ijpo.12791.
Tandel, Kirtida R. “Sugar Substitutes: Health Controversy over Perceived Benefits.” Journal of Pharmacology and Pharmacotherapeutics, vol. 2, no. 4, 2011, p. 236., https://doi.org/10.4103/0976-500x.85936.
O'connor, Anahad. “Can Artificial Sweeteners Keep Us from Gaining Weight?” The New York Times, The New York Times, 20 Aug. 2020, https://www.nytimes.com/2020/08/20/well/eat/artificial-sweeteners-sugar-weight-gain-diet-weight-loss.html.
Ebbeling, Cara B., et al. “Effects of Sugar‐Sweetened, Artificially Sweetened, and Unsweetened Beverages on Cardiometabolic Risk Factors, Body Composition, and Sweet Taste Preference: A Randomized Controlled Trial.” Journal of the American Heart Association, vol. 9, no. 15, 2020, https://doi.org/10.1161/jaha.119.015668.
Yang, Qing. “Gain weight by "going diet?" Artificial sweeteners and the neurobiology of sugar cravings: Neuroscience 2010.” The Yale journal of biology and medicine vol. 83,2 (2010): 101-8.
Ruiz-Ojeda, Francisco Javier, et al. “Effects of Sweeteners on the Gut Microbiota: A Review of Experimental Studies and Clinical Trials.” Advances in Nutrition, vol. 10, no. suppl_1, 2019, https://doi.org/10.1093/advances/nmy037.
Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition. “High-Intensity Sweeteners.” U.S. Food and Drug Administration, FDA, 19 May 2014, https://www.fda.gov/food/food-additives-petitions/high-intensity-sweeteners.