ARE ARTIFICIAL SWEETENERS GOD FOR YOU?

 

As I have been stating along this Blog, sugar is the first thing we should cut when losing weight is our goal. I do not consume sugar in my beverages. I don’t like sweet beverages and I rather save it for my desserts. Which I always prepare myself, from scratch, with less sugar than the recipe calls because I prefer them not very sweet so I can have a big portion.

So I am reducing the amount of sweet in my food all the time. One reason is: I do not like food or desserts to be too sweet. And most importantly: we all know sugar is not good for our health. We all know by now, it is considered one of the three white poisons.

Nevertheless, I always have some artificial sweeteners at home because I have a lot of friends who think and believe replacing sugar with them is good for their health and weight. So, when they pay me a visit I can offer those sweeteners for their beverages.

Anyway, I have to emphasize how bad sugar and artificial sweeteners are for our bodies. The ideal practice is to reduce the amount of sugar we consume every day and eliminate the artificial ones. Here are some facts that have been discovered through different researches about artificial sweeteners:

 

ARTIFICIAL SWEETENERS CONFUSE OUR BODIES AND BRAIN CAUSING DIABETES, AMONG OTHERS.

Whether we drink regular soda or the calorie-free version, our bodies don’t know the difference. “Artificial sweeteners confuse our brains and bodies to some extent,” says neuroscientist and PhD, Nicole Avena.
“When we taste something sweet, our body and brain react by releasing insulin in expectation of the glucose that circulates in our blood as a result of eating something with sugar. But when we consume an artificial sweetener, we end up releasing insulin when it isn’t necessary, since the sweeteners don’t impact blood glucose in the way that caloric sweeteners can.”
Why is this a problem? Over time, this can lead to insulin resistance or difficulty managing blood sugar, which may potentially lead to diabetes.

Some studies have found that drinking both sugar-sweetened beverages and artificially sweetened beverages is associated with an increased risk of developing type 2 diabetes.

 

ARTIFICIAL SWEETENERS ARE ALSO LINKED TO HEART DISEASE.

Diet drinks are linked to an increase in blood pressure and other risk factors for heart disease. In fact, researchers observed that women who drank two or more artificially sweetened beverages every day were 29 per cent more likely to develop heart disease and 23 per cent more likely to have a stroke.

 

ARTIFICIAL SWEETENERS CAN AFFECT OUR GUT MICROBIOME.

The gut microbiome is vital to our overall health and a February 2019 review found that some non-nutritive sweeteners (which includes everything from aspartame to stevia to sugar alcohols) can disrupt the gut microbiome and further affect our health.

Other studies have found that an unbalanced microbiome can weaken our immune system.

 

ARTIFICIAL SWEETENERS MAKE IT HARDER TO KICK SUGAR.

“Artificial sweeteners can make breaking a sugar addiction a lot harder, says Avena. “Many people are under the impression that switching to an artificial sweetener will be the way to get off sugar, but when you consume artificial sweeteners, your brain still thinks it’s [real] sugar. As a result, dopamine is released, and the neurochemical cascade of events that perpetuates the craving and withdrawal will continue.”
That’s why Avena recommends cutting back on all sweeteners including those with zero calories.

 

CONCLUSION: Cut the sugar and eliminate artificial sweeteners.

And, as I have been repeatedly saying in this Blog, moderation and considering your lifestyle are the keys to losing weight and remain thin and healthy.

I also hope I can convince my dearest friends to stop consuming those artificial sweeteners.

 

*Check this Blog for different ideas on delicious, non-sugar beverages and low sugar desserts. As well as how to kill cravings.

I am Love … I am Success!

Remember that loving ourselves means taking care, pampering and enjoying our health and our bodies, looking good and feeling good to please ourselves in the very first place and then to please others. The book I am Love … I am Success takes you through the path of that love for ourselves!

 

 

REFERENCES & RESOURCES

• Current Developments in Nutrition: “Diet Soda and Sugar-Sweetened Soda Consumption in Relation to Incident Diabetes in the Northern Manhattan Study”
• The Journal of Nutrition: “Sugar-Sweetened Beverage but Not Diet Soda Consumption Is Positively Associated with Progression of Insulin Resistance and Prediabetes”
• Stroke: “Artificially Sweetened Beverages and Stroke, Coronary Heart Disease, and All-Cause Mortality in the Women’s Health Initiative”
• Advances in Nutrition: “Effects of Sweeteners on the Gut Microbiota: A Review of Experimental Studies and Clinical Trials”
• The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition: “Consumption of Artificially and Sugar-Sweetened Beverages and Incident Type 2 Diabetes in the Etude Epidemiologique Aupres des Femmes de la Mutuelle Generale de l Education Nationale–European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition Cohort”
• Harvard Health: “Can Gut Bacteria Improve Your Health?”
• Molecules: “Measuring Artificial Sweeteners Toxicity Using a Bioluminescent Bacterial Panel”