Sugar and sugar relatives like high fructose corn syrup are bad for you. They make you fat, especially in your belly. They raise your blood sugar and increase triglycerides. They put you at risk for heart disease and diabetes. They rot your teeth, and they make some people out-of-control crazy with food.
That’s a lot of very good reasons to cut back on sugar, but are artificial sweeteners any better? Like sugar, artificial sweeteners are all highly processed substances. Even worse, they’re man-made, and man-made substances almost never end up being good for us, especially if we eat a lot of them.
On the surface, non-caloric sweeteners might seem to be better. Of course, the biggest benefit is that you don’t ingest as many calories, and caloric reduction is the most popular weight loss theory of the day. Another benefit is taste. It’s a big leap to go from a diet that has hidden sweeteners in almost everything to a diet that has no sweetening agent whatsoever. And lastly, most non-caloric sweetening substances don’t raise blood sugar, and this advantage is definitely worth considering if you’re a type 2 diabetic or if you’re one of those people having a hard time losing weight.
That said, recent studies suggest that diet drinks and food products might not be producing the intended result. According to Consumer’s Research Magazine, “There is no clear-cut evidence that sugar substitutes are useful in weight reduction. On the contrary, there is some evidence that these substances may stimulate appetite.”
People who drink a lot of diet drinks, for example, are not losing weight or inches, and it’s been shown show that rats that are fed artificial sweeteners overeat and get fat. There’s also the fact that some of these substances have a long history of bad press from our very own FDA and other governments, as well as laundry lists of health problems empirically reported by concerned individuals. At this point in time, our government says artificial sweeteners are safe, but no guidelines are provided for limits on consumption.
There are four categories of alternative sweetening options available to you: artificial sweeteners, sugar alcohols, stevia (an herb with sweet leaves), and blends that are made with various combinations of all these options. Some blends even include regular table sugar. This article is focused exclusively on artificial sweeteners. The three most readily available, widely used artificial sweeteners in the U.S. are aspartame, saccharin, and sucralose. Let’s look at each of these in more detail.
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Article comments
1 - John E. Garst, Ph.D. (Medicinal Chemistry, Pharmacology, Toxicology, and Nutrition)
There is NO scientific concern by FDA or other world’s regulatory agencies about aspartame. Studies to the contrary were poorly designed and open to serious criticism. But, aspartame-sensitive people may be innately susceptible to many disorders, including those you cite as proving a problem. Let me explain!
Aspartame is degraded to the all-natural substances methanol, phenylalanine, and aspartic acid even before absorption. People with the genetic condition phenylketonuria are unable to tolerate the vital, essential amino acid phenylalanine and are warned to avoid it on the label.
While methanol isn’t really very toxic, some people are uniquely sensitive to its toxic oxidation product formate. Formate removal is the real medical concern from methanol poisoning. However, low methanol and thus formate intake is vital. Formic acid is recycled by the folate-B12 vitamin systems to methyl groups that detoxify the real excitotoxin homocysteine (Wikipedia: homocysteine) or to methylene groups that convert uracil to thymine. Uracil incorporation into DNA in the absence of thymine causes unstable and breakable DNA and cancer. These folic acid transformations are absolutely vital to life and why folate-B12 are vitamins and why methanol at low doses, like those found in fruit juices or aspartame, is also vital.
Aspartame is perfectly safe used as directed, but still some people may show varying degrees of sensitivity (headaches, etc). These arise not from aspartame, but from the user’s underlying biochemistry. Some are ultrasensitive (allergic) to formate (perhaps from childhood insect stings). But most sensitive people are deficient in folic acid (a vitamin), have genetic folate abnormalities (called polymorphisms; Wikipedia: Methylenetetrahydrofolate reductase), or have high blood homocysteine (Wikipedia: homocysteine). The latter may be the most potent excitotoxin and many people have high blood homocysteine most frequently because of folate issues. Other factors include ethanol (which strongly inhibits folate raising formate concentrations, fetal alcohol syndrome, etc.) and antiepileptic drugs. ALL aspartame "symptoms" are seen as a direct consequence of underlying personal issues residing in formate sensitivity, whether through allergy, folate or other issues. None have anything to do with aspartame safety. But this formate “straw that broke the camels back” issue is why aspartame-associated symptoms disappear after ceasing use. The bigger question is whether people who show aspartame sensitivity are fundamentally at risk from many folate-associated diseases? That includes MS, lupus, diabetes, many cancers (brain and breast cancer) and others.
John E. Garst, Ph.D. (Medicinal Chemistry, Pharmacology, Toxicology, and Nutrition)
2 - Lynn Voedisch
Sorry, Dr. Garst, aspartame causes migraines. Every doctor who specializes in migraine treatment puts that at the top of his or her list of food additives to avoid. It certainly caused migraines for me and my son. (Topamax has controlled my migraines.)
Stevia is the only safe alternative sweetener and I'm surprised you didn't spend more time on it. Truvia and PureVia, which mix stevia with Eryrithritol (a fruit sugar) taste almost exactly like sugar, have no bad aftertaste and can be bought in handy packages. Pure stevia is a bit too strong for most people, and the Truvia compromise makes it easier to deal with.
Hammer Nutrition, which is one of the leading sports nutrition companies in the U.S., has announced that stevia is the ONLY sweetener that it will allow in any of its products because it's only one they deem safe.
So you can listen to the doctor there, who I am sure is funded by the aspartame industry, or you can listen to a nutrition company which has no reason to take the side of a sweetener that is natural and not produced in a lab.
If I don't use sugar, I will only use stevia. And for me the case is closed.
3 - Lynn Voedisch
Another note: in your rush to blame the patient, you say that those who are sensitive to aspartame must have some sort of allergy or folate issues. Why is it then that I can take, separately, the amino acids that are used to make aspartame and have no problem at all. Or why folic acid never has bothered me. Or why my son simply grew out of the headaches entirely with no change of diet. Your theory is totally flawed and you ought to read some of the newer studies on migraine disease that link it to small seizures that are sensitive to a myriad things.
4 - John E. Garst, Ph.D. (Medicinal Chemistry, Pharmacology, Toxicology, and Nutrition)
Lynn:
Thanks for writing back.
First, I really don't care if people use aspartame, another artificial sweetener, or sugar. I have no financial interest in aspartame. My only interest is in the truth. First, my point is that the facts are clear---aspartame is perfectly safe used as directed. I have personally reviewed the published literature on aspartame and there is none that documents any harm from this substance that cannot arise from the issues I reported. All the relevant regulatory agencies agree on this point. Realize too that the vast majority of those many, many millions of aspartame users have no problems with it; I have used aspartame extensively for forty plus years and I almost never have headaches, for example.
Second, the purpose of my writing was not to say such problems don’t exist, but rather to explain why some people experience problems using aspartame and more importantly to explain why those problems disappear when they stop using aspartame. The issue cannot be aspartame"it is never absorbed intact. Realize too that I agree with your point about headaches. I said so---“Aspartame is perfectly safe used as directed, but still some people may show varying degrees of sensitivity (headaches, etc).”
I did say that underlying folate deficiency, folate polymorphisms (effectively causing folate deficiency) or hyperhomocysteinemia (most often but not always reduced by folate) are likely responsible for any sensitivity to aspartame, although there are also other related issues that could be involved. In fact folate deficiency is common. It is associated with many cancers(PDF). And most connections suggested between disease and aspartame are better explained by disease and folate issues. And I wasn't blaming most patients, because from 20% to 40% of the population have genetic folate issues that they cannot control. But a goodly number also have a controllable folate deficiency. Again folate deficiency is widespread and that deficiency is a major cause of neural tube birth defects(PDF). Scientific study makes clear that major folate polymorphisms are directly connected to migraine headaches. Moreover, in those patients the headaches are prevented by folate supplements as expected.
So overall my point is exactly what I reported before---aspartame is perfectly safe used as directed in healthy people --those people susceptible to any aspartame reaction are reacting to their own folate deficiency or other issues not to aspartame make them supersensitive. Most likely that is to the slight additions of formate that they simply cannot handle. That is not a real aspartame safety issue, but a personal issue.
John E. Garst, Ph.D. (Medicinal Chemistry, Pharmacology, Toxicology, and Nutrition)
5 - Emm
This is an excellent article! I thought you compared the three artificial sweetners really fairly and objectively. Perhaps you could compare some of the natural ones too - are some of them as dangerous as artifical ones?
6 - Tree
I have done some research and reading on the subject of Aspartame, and my family and I have chosen to steer away from this artificial sweetener. I saw the comment regarding migraine headaches, I'll have to look into that helpful bit of information. Thank you, have a great day.