Sweet Little Lies
Struggling to lose weight? Feeling anxious? Hungry all the time?
If any of these apply to you, I would hazard a guess you are eating and drinking the wrong things. And the number one wrong thing you could possibly consume might surprise you: It’s artificial sugars.
Artificial sugars have a long and dark history, which their manufacturers would probably rather us consumers didn’t know about. They have been shown to cause cancer and damage fertility in lab animals, and there are even studies showing they cause weight gain. They don’t even taste as good as sugar, and yet people continue to lap them up. It makes you wonder if they’re addictive. (Spoiler alert, they are.)
Saccharin
The first artificial sugar was discovered accidentally by a chemist working with a coal tar derivative, benzoic sulfimide, when he noticed it left a sweet taste on his hands. This was in 1879 and almost immediately the substance - named saccharin - began being used as a substitute for sugar. Within 20 years it was widely used in fizzy drinks and canned foods until it was banned from sale in 1912 as a suspected toxin. But along came World War One and sugar shortages and - hey presto - the substance formally labelled a likely toxin was re-approved for consumption, because, you know, people have got to get their sweet fix from somewhere.
Nearly 100 years later, other scientists proved saccharin caused bladder cancer in laboratory rats and the FDA planned to ban it, but there was (allegedly) a public outcry, and saccharin was allowed to stay in circulation, with packets now containing the warning that it was known to cause cancer. To this day, people still consume it with wild abandon, most of them completely unaware of what the tiny writing on the packaging might say.
Cyclamate
The next fake sugar to hit the market was in the 1950s with cyclamate, which another scientist working on drug development had discovered in 1937 when he licked his finger on a ciggie break. The chemical was jauntily marketed as “Sweet n’ Low” and by 1968 it was the most popular sweetener on the market. But then, some pesky scientists discovered it too caused bladder cancer in lab rats. This time the FDA executed an immediate ban, and “Sweet n’ Low” switched its formula to saccharin (…remember, the first artificial sweetener that also caused bladder cancer but somehow evaded a sales ban).
Aspartame
Then in 1981 aspartame burst upon the world as “Nutrasweet” – and after Michael Jackson gave it a right royal introductory fanfare for Diet Pepsi, the world literally lapped it up. No one seemed to be bothered that aspartame’s release had been delayed by the Food and Drug Administration for seven years due to fears raised by more pesky scientists that it caused brain tumours. Since then, it has been linked to a wide variety of worrying health issues, including cancer, neurological disorders, and even excess weight gain.
Throughout the 1980s, aspartame reigned as the supreme artificial sugar, leading to a reduced consumption of over a billion pounds of sugar. Mysteriously, during the same period, obesity rates rose dramatically, although this was probably just a huge coincidence. So huge, in fact, that since 1980, the incidence of obesity in the western world has doubled.
In 2020, Eric Millstone, a university professor, called for a complete ban on aspartame in the UK after it emerged that European Union regulators approved its sale despite accepting 21 studies showing the sweetener had adverse effects on consumers. To date, his call goes unheeded.
Sucralose
The last of the big first four fake sugars, Sucralose – a combination of sucrose and chlorine – was approved for sale in 1998. Given that it is a hybrid of a natural sugar and a chemical, it is not surprising to learn that sucralose causes an increase in blood sugar, just at a lower rate than real sugar. This is likely why some studies have shown sucralose can cause sugar and insulin spikes. In addition, sucralose has been shown to alter the gut microbiome of lab rats and cause liver inflammation.
And the rest
There are various other sweeteners on the market which are used in processed foods – including supposedly healthy foods such as nutritional supplements. These include Acesulfame-K, Maltitol, Sorbitol and Erythritol, as well as sugars which are touted as healthy options such as Steviol glycosides, commonly known as Stevia.
By now, it may come as no surprise to learn that they have all been found to have safety concerns. In animal studies, Maltitol causes diarrhoea and foetal complications; Sorbitol adversely affects the growth of embryos, and Erythritol has been associated with an increased risk of major adverse cardiovascular events (ie heart disease) and thrombosis.
Acesulfame-K, or Acesulfame Potassium, was discovered accidentally by yet another chemist licking his fingers while working, and is widely used in many foods, including fizzy drinks and fruit squashes, baked products, yoghurt and ice cream. In the European Union it can be found under the additive code E950. In the 1970s a study suggested it was linked to bladder cancer in rats and more recently it has been shown to adversely affect gut microbiota.
Meanwhile, Stevia (sometimes labelled steviol glycosides), so often touted as a healthy fake sugar due to its herbal origins, has also been found to have safety issues, including reducing the conception rate of lab rats by 50% – and this was at normal human consumption levels.
Takeaway
Fake sugar is cheap to make and is widely used in processed foods, including many baked goods, yoghurts, fizzy drinks (and not just the diet varieties), chewing gum, and condiments. Anything that is labelled “diet” or “light” is likely to have fake sugar among its ingredients. The full long-term effects of these man-made foods are not yet known, but plenty of adverse effects have been studied and reported.
Being a Naturopath, I truly believe that nature knows best where our health is concerned. If you really fancy a sweet treat, my preferred options are to have a little real set honey, maple syrup, or date syrup or, best of all, whole dates, which can be blended into drinks and treats. All of these have a lower glycaemic index – the rate at which blood sugar is raised - than sugar, as well as offering some extra healthy benefits.
Finally, avoid artificial sugars whenever possible and always read the labels.
References:
Azad, M. et al. (2017) Nonnutritive Sweeteners and Cardiometabolic Health: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of Randomised Controlled Trials and Prospective Cohort Studies. cmaj.ca/content/189/28/E929
Bian, X. et al. (2017) Gut Microbiome Response to Sucralose and its Role in Inducing Liver Inflammation in Mice. frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fphys.2017.00487/full
Bian, X. et al. (2017) The Artificial Sweetener Acesulfame Potassium Affects the Gut Microbiome and Weight Gain in CD-1 Mice. ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5464538/
Bissonnette, D. et al. (2017) The Effect of Nonnutritive Sweeteners Added to a Liquid Diet on Volume and Caloric Intake and Weight Gain in Rats. onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/oby.21920
Chen, Y. et al. (2022) Aspartame Consumption, Mitochondrial-induced Impaired Ovarian Function, and Infertility Risk. ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9656449/
Cho, N. et al. (2018) Impact of Food Ingredients (Aspartame, Stevia, Prebiotic Oligofructose) on Fertility and Reproductive Outcomes in Obese Rats. onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/oby.22325
Danaei, G. et al. (2014) Cardiovascular Disease, Chronic Kidney Disease, and Diabetes Mortality Burden of Cardiometabolic Risk Factors from 1980 to 2010: A Comparative Risk Assessment. thelancet.com/journals/landia/article/PIIS2213-8587(14)70102-0/fulltext
Goldstein, D. (2015) The Oxford Companion to Sugar and Sweets, Oxford University Press, Oxford.
Jones, S. et al. (2022) Transgenerational Transmission of Aspartame-Induced Anxiety and changes in Glutamate-GABA Signalling and Gene Expression in the Amygdala. pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas.2213120119
Landrigan, P.J., Straif, K. (2021) Aspartame and Cancer – New Evidence for Causation. rdcu.be/ddLBr
Lin, T. et al. (2015) Effects of Sorbitol on Porcine Oocyte Maturation and Embryo Development in Vitro. cambridge.org/core/journals/zygote/article/abs/effects-of-sorbitol-on-porcine-oocyte-maturation-and-embryo-development-in-vitro/4E870DA36E4A2C18E7AEB85CFAA6CCAC
Millstone, E. and Dawson, E. (2020) Why Did EFSA Not Reduce its ADI for Aspartame or Recommend its Use Should No Longer Be Permitted? archpublichealth.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s13690-020-00489-w
Pepino, M. et al. (2013) Sucralose Affects Glycemic and Hormonal Responses to an Oral Glucose Load. diabetesjournals.org/care/article/36/9/2530/37872/Sucralose-Affects-Glycemic-and-Hormonal-Responses
Saraiva, A. et al. (2020) Maltitol: Analytical Determination Methods, Applications in the Food Industry, Metabolism and Health Impacts. ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7400077/
Witkowski, M. et al. (2023) The Artificial Sweetener Erythritol and Cardiovascular Event Risk. nature.com/articles/s41591-023-02223-9
