Artificial Sweeteners?

Splenda

Equal in my coffee / tea - I have tried a few others...artificial and so called natural. Splenda - strong dis like for even with baking I can taste it. I am not a huge sweet person so I think i am sensitive to sweet things and they separate from the flavor of the item. (weird I know) (think if I experimented more and maybe used less?!?!)

I do not use artificial anything when baking / cooking unless it is just for me. My kids have a sensitivity to certain artificial stuff.

Tried the advertised "all natural" ones and they taste more artificial than Splenda and Equal..go figure!

When searched this topic has probably hundreds of threads here. It seems to be a very popular topic and of course everyone has their own opinions. Some people believe it's absolutely terrible for you and will kill you. Some think it's ok in moderation... some won't touch it... some will consume it daily.

Personally, I drink diet pops regularly. I some use various sweeteners in my coffee in the morning. I don't have an issue with it. I don't see anything majorly wrong with it. There have been so many things in the past that were terrible for us and cause cancer, etc etc. I have yet to see any real, valid research that states sweeteners are bad for us (except those who have issues with them... some people get migraines and such). The only tests and studies have been done on rats and in extreme quantities.

I don't use regular sugar and really don't consume too much sweeteners but I think everything is fine in moderation.

Sweet'n'Low has always been my go-to. It's also been around the longest, I think.

I only use Stevia....

I've had ringing in my ears for most of my life and it was diagnosed as tinnitus. Nothing food/sugar substitute was ever mentioned even during all my research into the subject. Anyway, I had to give up diet sodas and anything else containing aspartame recently because of an allergy. I am a Truvia/Stevia user now.

Artificial sweeteners have unfair rep. They are blamed by overweight people for their weight gain or lack of weight loss. The fact is, people need to be accountable for what they put into their mouth in terms of overall nutrition, not whether they've taken a packet of sweetener. If you want to put some in your tea or coffee or oats, then there is absolutely nothing wrong with doing so. You won't get sick, you won't get cancer and you certainly won't get fat.

That said, I would not recommend diet sodas in place of plain water. But if you want to drink one, then go for it. Just don't go consuming 20+ cans a day.

Aspartame Not Linked to Cancer
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1797853/

- Saccharin
...there is no clear evidence that saccharin causes cancer in humans, saccharin was delisted in 2000 from the U.S. National Toxicology Program’s Report on Carcinogens...
- Aspartame
...Subsequently, NCI examined human data from the NIH-AARP Diet and Health Study of over half a million retirees. Increasing consumption of aspartame-containing beverages was not associated with the development of lymphoma, leukemia, or brain cancer (2).
- Acesulfame potassium, Sucralose, and Neotame
...Before approving these sweeteners, the FDA reviewed more than 100 safety studies that were conducted on each sweetener, including studies to assess cancer risk. The results of these studies showed no evidence that these sweeteners cause cancer or pose any other threat to human health.
http://www.cancer.gov/cancertopics/factsheet/Risk/artificial-sweeteners

Does aspartame cause cancer?
...But studies in people can sometimes be hard to interpret, because there may be other factors affecting the results that are hard to account for.
http://www.cancer.org/cancer/cancercauses/othercarcinogens/athome/aspartame

You guys are awesome, thanks for the input!

For those of you who use Stevia or Truvia, do they leave any kind of after taste? Also wondering if anyone has used ZSweet?

I personally don't like Stevia or Truvia. I find they have an after taste... especially truvia as it's more processed. I've never heard of ZSweet.

None. I can go without.

For my coffee I use a German artificial sweetener called Sussli that comes in tablet form. For iced tea and corn flakes I use Sweet n' Low or Stevia in the Raw. The only time I use sugar is the organic kind and I use it when I bake.

My sweetener of choice is stevia in the raw. I've never noticed an after taste. I will use splenda occasionally as well.

I've studied sugars and artificial sweeteners for the last 3 years and had many conversations with a top food formulator and biochemist. I only use raw sugar or organic raw honey.. Anything artificial is very harmful to your body in the long run and all artificial sweeteners actually make you more hungry and hinder weight loss.. Even diabetics should use raw sugar as sweetener instead of artificial, if used in moderation and not often..

they are all chemicals and my poor daughter had a horrible reaction to a drink with sucralose in it, I no longer let her have anything with artificial sweeteners in them and it doesn't have to be diet to have them in.
Most of the drink like squash have them in even though they are not the no added sugar ones.
As i don't drink the drinks myself i didn't realise they was in them and made the stupid mistake of thinking the regular drinks had just normal sugar but was very wrong.

Aspartame causes headaches and are trying to ban I understand and has been tested on human subjects including children and they still put it in the drinks they know our children will drink.
I posted in a group what happened to my daughter and a few ppl replyed with the side affects they got from just sucralose,the other sweetener in the drink Acesulfame K turned out it's not even had any human testing but caused rats livers and kidneys to swell but is still added to drinks but they had spent the time to make the colours and flavours natural but the sweet taste is chemical...doesn't make sense.

http://www.sweetpoison.com/aspartame-sweeteners.html

Stevia when I actually have to use a sweetener...nothing is best according to everything I've read and all the doctors I've asked (:

This is really interesting topic. I drink Crystal Light - not full strength... I add just a bit to my 20 oz water bottle to give it some flavor. I find I can get all my water in if I do that. But I worry about the artificial sweetener in that too.

The only other sugar I've been using recently is raw sugar - a 1/2 tsp in my cappuccino - that I make at home.

Any thoughts on Crystal Light?

I have found Xylitol to be more than adequate as a substitute. No aftertaste I have been able to detect, you can use it anywhere you would use sugar (except when you are making food where yeast is needed as Xylitol will not "feed" the yeast), and it seems to also combat tooth decay.

I use it frequently in coffee, and I have used it in homemade granola.