Artificial Sweeteners and You

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msarro
msarro Posts: 2,748 Member
in Food and Nutrition
There seem to be two schools of thought on this site - those who are willing to use chemical sweeteners to still have their sweet foods, but without the calories. Then there are those who would rather use real sugar or remove sugar entirely than use the artificial sweeteners, stating that artificial sweeteners have a host of bad side effects.

What exactly are these side effects? Can anyone point to any studies that show them? I'm just trying to figure this out as I tend to use whatever is on hand, but given the choice between sugar or sweet'n'low I tend to go with the pink packet.

However, I noticed this morning when I was having some steel cut oatmeal with cinnamon that a teaspoon of raw sugar is only 15 calories, which seems like an excellent trade off to avoid the extra chemicals.

Replies

  • cardigirl
    cardigirl Posts: 492 Member
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    This link is kind of interesting:

    http://answers.google.com/answers/threadview/id/595143.html
  • pniana
    pniana Posts: 254 Member
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    I strictly avoid artificial sweeteners due to the chemicals but I recently read a few articles regarding studies that found that those sweeteners can actually cause weight gain. Here is a link to one article claiming
    "In the Purdue study, the rats whose diets contained artificial sweeteners appeared to experience a physiological connection between sweet tastes and calories, which drove them to overeat. "

    Basically, when your body tastes the sweet, it thinks it has eaten the calories. It looks for those calories and when it doesn't find them, it craves them.

    http://abcnews.go.com/GMA/OnCall/story?id=4271246&page=1
  • msarro
    msarro Posts: 2,748 Member
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    Hmm, looks like I should just pick up some raw sugar :)
    I don't use it for much anyways, except when I bake, in my coffee (one cup a day), and in my oatmeal (twice a day at most).

    I'd like to stop adding it to a lot of the food, but I just can't get passed the taste of oatmeal without some sugar.
  • cardigirl
    cardigirl Posts: 492 Member
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    You could use honey in the oatmeal. Honey is too sweet for me. I buy organic sugar from Trader Joe's. It's not quite as refined as white sugar, and a bit less sweet.
  • Johnnyswife
    Johnnyswife Posts: 1,447 Member
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    I can't eat nutrasweet because it gives me headaches. I like Splenda, but again I know what sugar is, and where it comes from. Artificial sweeteners are a bit murky to me. I like using whole, natural stuff like real sugar, real butter, ect, and make room for the calories.:smile:
  • msarro
    msarro Posts: 2,748 Member
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    You could use honey in the oatmeal. Honey is too sweet for me. I buy organic sugar from Trader Joe's. It's not quite as refined as white sugar, and a bit less sweet.

    I absolutely love honey - plus if you can get your hands on raw honey (still cloudy, not filtered/pasteurized) from your area, its been shown to decrease allergies. That's an awesome idea! I'll have to stop by the store and see what I can find. I used to have a bunch of honey at the apartment but ran out, and for some reason haven't thought to get more.
  • fisher110
    fisher110 Posts: 29 Member
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    :flowerforyou: I like to use Stevia, which is derived from a plant. You can buy it in the health food section of most grocery stores. It is very sweet and in a powder form. My sister and I actually bought the plant Stevia this year to see if we could grow it on our own. I just harvested some of the leaves and am drying them out now. I hope to grind it up and use it instead of buying it at the store! I haven't noticed any side effects from using it.
  • pniana
    pniana Posts: 254 Member
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    I'd like to stop adding it to a lot of the food, but I just can't get passed the taste of oatmeal without some sugar.

    Try adding 1/4 to 1/2 of a banana to your oatmeal while the oatmeal is still hot. It adds lots of sweetness!
  • BrendaLee
    BrendaLee Posts: 4,463 Member
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    "When the tongue senses something sweet, it sends a signal to the brain to prepare the digestive system for a caloric load. However, expectations prove to be false with an intake of sweeteners. As a result, the body develops appetite problems when other food arrives."

    http://www.huliq.com/50303/artificial-sweeteners-provoke-body-fat-accumulation

    ___

    I still have an occasional diet soda as I just can't bring myself to drink the regular stuff. I've heard, as we all have, lots of horrible things about artificial sweetners- like their link to cancer, that the body doesn't know what to do with the chemicals so it stores them in fat cells. Yum. lol
  • HeatherD
    HeatherD Posts: 75 Member
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    Real honest to goodness maple syrup (not Aunt jemima or Mrs Butterworth's) is also deee-lish on Oatmeal...you should try it!

    Free advice from a Canadian girl!
  • cardigirl
    cardigirl Posts: 492 Member
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    Excellent suggestion, Heather. I'll try that tomorrow! MmMmMmm mapley syrup.
  • NinaDawn79
    NinaDawn79 Posts: 164
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    Great question, I'll make time to read these articles later as I've been struggling at eliminating Splenda from my life. My issue is that a 15 calorie teaspoon of sugar does not sweeten like a packet of zero calorie Splenda, and I have yet to meet anything "too sweet" come my way. :frown:

    Great example: After reading much about FAGE yogurt, I bought a small tub at Trader Joe's after the weekend, and dug into it yesterday (put some cut up honeydew in it). I immediately almost vomited it back up and then threw it in the trash, but out of desperation (I was HUNGRY!) sprinkled a packet of Splenda on it and it miraculously became a bowl of the most decadent deliciousness. To me it tasted like a bowl full of sweetened cream cheese found in cakes and pastries.

    Anyway, I will read the research and work on my gag reflex. . .
  • courtney_love2001
    courtney_love2001 Posts: 1,468 Member
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    I use truvia and splenda. I like the truvia better because it actually looks like sugar. All splenda is is chlorinated sugar. The body can't cleave the sugar with the added chlorine on it, so it just passes through the body without being absorbed. I'm not convinced that it is bad...it has been through so many trials, and people have been using stevia for a loooong time. It's so hard to want to eat sugar when it is a caloric sinkhole and splenda/stevia has none....

    Oh and I must sweeten my fage in order to eat it! Hahah it's pretty sour without it. I like to add honey to it!
  • marm1962
    marm1962 Posts: 950 Member
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    There seem to be two schools of thought on this site - those who are willing to use chemical sweeteners to still have their sweet foods, but without the calories. Then there are those who would rather use real sugar or remove sugar entirely than use the artificial sweeteners, stating that artificial sweeteners have a host of bad side effects.

    What exactly are these side effects? Can anyone point to any studies that show them? I'm just trying to figure this out as I tend to use whatever is on hand, but given the choice between sugar or sweet'n'low I tend to go with the pink packet.

    However, I noticed this morning when I was having some steel cut oatmeal with cinnamon that a teaspoon of raw sugar is only 15 calories, which seems like an excellent trade off to avoid the extra chemicals.

    One cup of Splenda contains 96 calories and 32 grams of carbohydrates, which is substantial for people with diabetes but unnoticed due to the label claiming that it's a no calorie sweetener.
    Check out the following website about artificial sweeteners.

    http://www.medicinenet.com/artificial_sweeteners/article.htm

    Truvia was not listed at this site yet, this is my current pick although I don't use much sugar. My husband likes the taste of this one.
  • jlefton1212
    jlefton1212 Posts: 171 Member
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    I have read that artificial sweeteners actually increase a person's "sweetness tolerance", meaning that it takes more and more sweetness to register on one's palate. I know that I have experienced this myself, and while I have always had a sweet tooth, my cravings for all things sweet have gotten out of control since I have been drinking diet soda and using artificial sweetner.

    My sister had to cut out all caffeine from her diet for two months, and has thus stopped drinking tea and diet soda, and said that she is noticing that things that are naturally sweet are starting to taste better.
  • maurierose
    maurierose Posts: 574 Member
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    I'd like to stop adding it to a lot of the food, but I just can't get passed the taste of oatmeal without some sugar.

    Might sound odd, but some finely chopped apples and a handful of raisins in oatmeal is REALLY good, adds a natural sweet taste to it. I just add it in with the water when I boil it before adding the rolled oats. YUMMO! My grandparents used to make it for me.... :smile:
  • NykkieC
    NykkieC Posts: 622 Member
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    I'd like to stop adding it to a lot of the food, but I just can't get passed the taste of oatmeal without some sugar.

    Might sound odd, but some finely chopped apples and a handful of raisins in oatmeal is REALLY good, adds a natural sweet taste to it. I just add it in with the water when I boil it before adding the rolled oats. YUMMO! My grandparents used to make it for me.... :smile:

    Oh my gosh that sounds delicious!

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