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Artificial sweeteners have a lot of controversy surrounding them. There are some that are fairly harmless, such as Stevia. But others have come under attack, for causing cancer, releasing toxic chemicals, developing biochemical poisons and the like. We all know sugar spikes insulin and can cause both diabetes and weight gain. It would be wise to curb your sweet tooth and learn to get your sweet fix from things like apples, oranges, and other sweet tasting fruits.
However, if you do need to transition from sugar to something else, the artificial sweetener with the most positive long term studies is Sucralose (brand name: Splenda). Sucralose is a chemical-however, it is a combination of two chemicals that your body can handle. Chlorine (yes, the cleaning agent) and Glucose (table sugar). If you ingest chlorine in very small quantities, it’s fine. In fact, you do ingest some in your drinking water. It combines with sodium in your body to make chloride, which is a necessary electrolyte. Sugar, is sugar. It’s better to minimize it but, unless you are diabetic, it takes a lot to have an immediately dangerous effect on your body.
As of the writing of this text, the only negative long term study involving Sucralose stated that your internal digestive enzymes don’t reproduce as much when you use sucralose instead of real sugar. This makes sense because those enzymes reproduce using sugar…so if you consume less sugar, they would naturally reproduce at a reduced rate.
Artificial sweeteners have also been know to cause you to consume more of an artificially sweetened product than a similar naturally sweetened product. This is because taste buds are communication to your body. They tell your body that an energy source (carbohydrate) is on it’s way and therefore, it should get the systems prepared for that. However, with artificial sweeteners, that expected energy never arrives. Therefore, the body requests it. And the self fulfilling cycle begins and continues.
Another important fact to take not of is, just because an item isn’t sweetened with real sugar doesn’t mean that it doesn’t contain carbohydrates. Carbohydrates will convert to sugar in large quantities. Therefore, if you think you can consume more sugar free popsicles because they don’t contain natural sugar, think again. You may be consuming a lot more fruit from the sugar than you thought you were because you are eating more of them! This is especially dangerous if you are diabetic!
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