Are Artificial Sweetners Safe? How Paranoid are You?

Yesterday, I told you all about the delicious evils of sugar. Artificial sweeteners have an evil reputation, but is it deserved?

The FDA has approved saccharin, aspartame, sucralose, neotame, and acesulfame potassium (don't they all sound chemically yummy?) as sugar substitutes.

This post could be really long, but I'll try to be as concise as possible. All of these chemicals, as stated above are FDA approved. This means they have gone through numerous (around 100) tests, none of them have been found to be harmful. There are guidelines for how much you should consume, but if you're drinking 6 or more diet sodas a day, for God's sake have some water.

Many people believe there is a link between cancer and artificial sweeteners. When saccharin was first on the market, it even had to be labeled with a warning about a link between it and cancer in lab rats. Those findings have since been rescinded. A recent Italian study raised concerns about aspartame as a possible carcinogen. Both the FDA and the European Food Safety Authority looked into the matter and concluded that the data did not support the conclusion that aspartame is a carcinogen. The National Cancer Institute also stands behind the FDA's findings on artificial sweeteners. Given all that, there are still a lot of very smart people who think these substances are dangerous, and I can't 100% prove them wrong. So the question is, do you trust the government to tell you what's safe to eat? Given the current political climate, thinking about trusting the government is pretty depressing.

The chances of getting cancer from artificial sweeteners seems pretty remote, but don't start buying food and drinks based on the fact that they're "diet" because they've got an artificial sweetener. Artificial sweeteners are still not good for you! They may not have the calories of sugar, but they provide no nutritional value on their own. Even though that artificially sweetened cookie has fewer calories, they are still empty calories. How are you going to get the amount of fruits, vegetables, and water you need each day, if you're eating 'low cal' processed foods and drinking diet soda?

There is one more study I'd like to mention. Some researchers at Purdue wondered why there has been such an increase in the number of products containing artificial sweeteners in the past 25 years, yet our nation continues to get fatter. And it really seems like we've been getting fatter faster in that same time period. Here's what they're study, using rats, has led them to conclude. Your body learns how many calories are in food by how sweet and how viscous (or thick) it is. Artificial sweeteners throw this all out of whack. Your body doesn't understand why it has had a rich, delicious treat, but you're still hungry. This causes you to eat more, and any benefit you got from the low-cal food or drink is totally gone. I would really like to find some more research in this area. If you know of any, pass along the info.