Artificial Sweeteners?

If we accept that all artificial sweeteners have been tested extensively and found to be safe to consume, it seems to me the only thing left to ask with regards to anecdotes is which one people like best. I like splenda/sucralose. It tastes best to me and Aldi sells a generic brand of it for about 1/4 of the brand-name cost. Saccharine (SweetnLow) and stevia (Truvia) both have a bad aftertaste to me. (I'm always surprised that no one else seems to find stevia terribly bitter, but whatever.) I'll use aspartame/Equal if that's all that's around. Its in the middle taste-wise.

"Science" is still learning all sorts of things, so if someone swears they have tummy trouble every time they eat something, I wouldn't necessarily pooh-pooh them. There could be a rare condition that makes people sensitive to a certain substance that we don't know about yet. But I wouldn't take it as meaningful for myself either, unless I had the same experience. If they claimed it caused cancer or serious damage, I'd take that with a very large grain of salt, cuz that's the sort of thing that gets studied. Which basically means that in the end. go ahead and try one in your coffee and see if you like it. Its not going to hurt you. But as somebody else kind of implied, take it for what its worth - it will save you enough calories to have an apple instead, but you probably don't want to build your diet around it.

sheermomentum wrote: »

If we accept that all artificial sweeteners have been tested extensively and found to be safe to consume, it seems to me the only thing left to ask with regards to anecdotes is which one people like best. I like splenda/sucralose. It tastes best to me and Aldi sells a generic brand of it for about 1/4 of the brand-name cost. Saccharine (SweetnLow) and stevia (Truvia) both have a bad aftertaste to me. (I'm always surprised that no one else seems to find stevia terribly bitter, but whatever.) I'll use aspartame/Equal if that's all that's around. Its in the middle taste-wise.

"Science" is still learning all sorts of things, so if someone swears they have tummy trouble every time they eat something, I wouldn't necessarily pooh-pooh them. There could be a rare condition that makes people sensitive to a certain substance that we don't know about yet. But I wouldn't take it as meaningful for myself either, unless I had the same experience. If they claimed it caused cancer or serious damage, I'd take that with a very large grain of salt, cuz that's the sort of thing that gets studied. Which basically means that in the end. go ahead and try one in your coffee and see if you like it. Its not going to hurt you. But as somebody else kind of implied, take it for what its worth - it will save you enough calories to have an apple instead, but you probably don't want to build your diet around it.

This is a good post.

Issues are often attributed to one ingredient, when the consumer is missing out consideration of other ingredients in what they consumer. IE. Aspartame in Diet Coke causing stomach upset/gas & shakiness... It's filled with carbonation and caffeine!!! You also have a lot of issues attributed to gluten insensitivity which are really about other issues in foods that tend to be high in gluten, etc. But if something doesn't make you feel right, sure, put it down. It just may not be for the reason you think it is, no matter how convincing that latest fad doctor's book is at giving you a framework that seems to make all your problems fit in a "AHA!" puzzle.

Correlation/causation is hard, and if you can't account for the distinction (like JstTheWaylam's argument above) you aren't in a position where you'll be able to figure it out.

Stevia makes me sneeze and tired but its a member of the ragweed family so I figure that's why
Sucralose puts me in a bad mood about 30 minutes after,dunno why
Aspartame I can handle.surprisingly cuz it seems to get the worst press,we're all different in the way things effect us,I can't drink regular soda cuz I makes my stomach burn so I have diet coke as a here and there treat

I use a half teaspoon of Truvia in each of my two coffees in the morning, it does the job of taking the edge of the plain coffee. A little FF milk and my coffee barely impacts my day. You'll have to make your own mind up about adding more artificial sweeteners in to your diet but they are already in so many things we consume you'd have to make a project out of it to get rid of them anyway.

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Some artificial sweeteners are better in liquids, others bake better. Aspartame hands down is best for cold beverages.

I find that Stevia tingles very much like cinnamon so if I am using Stevia I'll often use cinnamon too.

Try a hot Chai tea with a little Stevia and cocoa.

I like fake sugars. Try different things and eat the ones that taste good to you. Personally, I like Coke Zero, Diet Dr Pepper, and use stevia in my overnight oats and in some other things. Sometimes I'll just cut the sugar in half and replace half, to get a better flavour with less aftertastes.

AnvilHead wrote: »

JstTheWayIam wrote: »

Simply saying that everyone's got a financial stake does not suddenly mean that soda manufacturers do not have a financial stake in convincing people that artificial sweeteners are not harmful... In fact to the contrary, in only helps to backup my argument...

Also note that all the money Dr Greger makes from his book went to charity and he makes nothing on his website either...

You say that I refused to put up any sort of factual argument, while I present you with a YouTube video that definitely has factual information...

You then claim the data to be cherry picked (which your going to claim no matter what I present you with) and counter with absolutely nothing... Nothing at all...

Then please allow me to counter that non-factual, fearmongering YouTube video with a 93-page PDF summation of actual scientific studies regarding the safety of aspartame: http://seriecientifica.org/sites/default/files/scl_enc_butchko.pdf

In addition, a thread which was started by a biochemist, with evidence-based information included, was linked earlier in the thread: http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/1308408/why-aspartame-isnt-scary/p1

You do realize that serie cientifica is sponsored by the Coca-Cola company right?

But if you want to take their word for it, be my guest...

flrancho wrote: »

I used to use Splenda. It was ok. Used Sugar In The Raw a few times too.

Anymore I use real sugar. I really just don't like the vibe from artificial sugars..... and I'm not just attacking artificial sugars here. I really don't like eating anything that's an artificial substitute, or made fat-free, pre-packaged, etc.

I always try to eat as "whole" as possible, using foods as close to their whole, natural state as possible. 80% of my diet is homemade from scratch - the rest is generally because I'm eating out or had to make financial sacrifices in the food department.

I heard that. Maruchan ftw.

I use sucralose in cooking if I'm not cooking with yeast. If I'm cooking with yeast, I do feed them sugar.