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Artificial Sweeteners May Change Our Gut Bacteria in Dangerous Ways

scientificamerican.com

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Re: Artificial Sweeteners May Change Our Gut Bacteria in Dangerous Ways

#71

Post by tptacek »

darcyparker wrote: post #69
AnkhMorporkian wrote: post #66

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Do you have a source re: aspartame and seizures? I did a cursory search and the only non-anecdotal thing I could find was a study[1] that showed there was no link in people who described themselves as sensitive. [1] http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/7614911

Unfortunately I can't point to an official study - just many anecdotal claims from people like me. When you google, I am sure you will see many such claims - including the 'internet hoax'. (The internet hoax is unfortunate because it takes away credibility from the many anecdotal claims like mine that sincerely feel real. More carefully constructed studies should occur.)

That's tricky to evaluate, because you get the exact same narratives from people who claim sensitivity to glutamates, where we can be somewhat certain that there isn't a health connection.

Re: Artificial Sweeteners May Change Our Gut Bacteria in Dangerous Ways

#72

Post by devy »

beat wrote: post #70

I'm currently trying to kick a Diet Coke habit (my equivalent of smoking), which I think is contributing to several health problems, not the least of which is carrying about 40 pounds more than I should around. Part of it, which isn't covered by these studies, is how a reliance on diet soda affects your diet overall. It serves as a lubricant, for lack of a better word, for dense starchy carbs and salt. I can wolf dow…

Sorry to ask this personal question, do you know if there is a name for the autoimmune problem that causes scores?

Re: Artificial Sweeteners May Change Our Gut Bacteria in Dangerous Ways

#73

Post by aric »

darcyparker wrote: post #54
beagle3 wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There aren't doubts about its safety, and reading about it a lot, I am not convinced there ever were that were based on data - seems they all had to do with scare tactics. In the USA it was available until 1991 with not a single medical case against it - and again since 1994 (simultaneously considered "safe" on its own but "not enough data to classify as safe" as an additive). Not to mention, it has more than a thous…

The doubts about its safety are mine. I am skeptic about the safety of all artificial sweeteners - especially ones new to the market - given my personal experiences with Aspartame. From most American's points of view, Stevia is new and it is being promoted by big industry. It may have been around for a thousand years, but I seriously doubt any of my ancestors in the last 1000 years consumed much of it. I am fine with…

> Stevia is new and it is being promoted by big industry...

Stevia, the plant, is not new. Menacing industry in that equation is artificial sweetener interests that used government(s) to ban importation and ban the option to label stevia as a sweetener in the United States and elsewhere. It was still widely sold, bought, and consumed. Strains vary. Some have a bitter aftertaste. Some are bred to be mostly sweet with minimal aftertaste. Whether it's consumed as dried plant matter, ground, or as newer extracts, a wide sampling sifts out tasty, palatable strains.

> I am fine with it being on the market...

I'm fine with lettuce being on the market. It's smart to be skeptical about everything, especially on an individual level, and more so given your experience. I avoid artificial sweeteners, also. Not enjoying the taste helps.

Re: Artificial Sweeteners May Change Our Gut Bacteria in Dangerous Ways

#74

Post by zapt02 »

devy wrote: post #72
beat wrote: post #70

I'm currently trying to kick a Diet Coke habit (my equivalent of smoking), which I think is contributing to several health problems, not the least of which is carrying about 40 pounds more than I should around. Part of it, which isn't covered by these studies, is how a reliance on diet soda affects your diet overall. It serves as a lubricant, for lack of a better word, for dense starchy carbs and salt. I can wolf dow…

Sorry to ask this personal question, do you know if there is a name for the autoimmune problem that causes scores?

probably psoriasis

Re: Artificial Sweeteners May Change Our Gut Bacteria in Dangerous Ways

#75

Post by ethanbond »

vowelless wrote: post #51
ethanbond wrote: post #41

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Thus the phrase "often including..." I wasn't attempting to disprove or contribute to his claims. Just to point out an interesting intersection of diet and seizures.

Can you give a source for aspartame/artificial sweeteners being often included with low carb diet for treating childhood epilepsy? It doesn't seem intuitive to me that a diet to treat such a disease would often include something like aspartame.

Well a ketogenic diet is used to treat epilepsy, and artificial sweeteners don't generally conflict with ketosis. I didn't mean to imply artificial sweeteners are prescribed to epileptics. Maybe they're even specifically forbidden as well, I'm not sure.

Re: Artificial Sweeteners May Change Our Gut Bacteria in Dangerous Ways

#76

Post by washadjeffmad »

pbreit wrote: post #49

Fake sugar tastes bad and is unnecessary. Let's get rid of it already. Eat whole foods!

It's funny how extracting and concentrating sucrose from certain hemi- and cellulose fibers (like their sponsor does) isn't very different from extracting and concentrating xylitol from other hemi- and cellulose fibers, but to some, it's worlds apart.

Re: Artificial Sweeteners May Change Our Gut Bacteria in Dangerous Ways

#77

Post by SomeCallMeTim »

pkaye wrote: post #36
mapt wrote: post #22

It's entirely possible that this is just sloppy science journalism, but the distinction the SA article mentions sounds a bit ridiculous. "In the Israeli experiment, 10-week-old mice were fed a daily dose of aspartame, sucralose or saccharin. Another cluster of mice were given water laced with one of two natural sugars, glucose or sucrose. After 11 weeks, the mice receiving sugar were doing fine, whereas the mice fed…

There was a documentary where identical twins did a health challenge or a month. One ate only carbs and the other only fat/protein. Guess which had blood sugar spikes at the end of the challenge... the one eating fat/protein.

But if you continue to eat low-carb, you don't end up with blood sugar spikes.

I know I'm much better off on a low-carb diet than I ever have been, and my blood glucose level is much more stable. My brain works better, and I've lost a lot of weight. But I can't pig out on sweets or I get a hangover. It's a tradeoff.

On the plus side, the sugar-loving bacteria in my gut have probably mostly died off, since I no longer get sugar cravings like I used to. So I don't feel like pigging out on sugar. Works for me.

Re: Artificial Sweeteners May Change Our Gut Bacteria in Dangerous Ways

#78

Post by darkarmani »

vowelless wrote: post #51
ethanbond wrote: post #41

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Thus the phrase "often including..." I wasn't attempting to disprove or contribute to his claims. Just to point out an interesting intersection of diet and seizures.

Can you give a source for aspartame/artificial sweeteners being often included with low carb diet for treating childhood epilepsy? It doesn't seem intuitive to me that a diet to treat such a disease would often include something like aspartame.

> It doesn't seem intuitive to me that a diet to treat such a disease would often include something like aspartame.

It's the avoiding carbs part that means they look to eat something sweet that isn't a carb. They don't prescribe aspartame; they just say don't leave ketosis.

Re: Artificial Sweeteners May Change Our Gut Bacteria in Dangerous Ways

#79

Post by fluidcruft »

mapt wrote: post #22

It's entirely possible that this is just sloppy science journalism, but the distinction the SA article mentions sounds a bit ridiculous. "In the Israeli experiment, 10-week-old mice were fed a daily dose of aspartame, sucralose or saccharin. Another cluster of mice were given water laced with one of two natural sugars, glucose or sucrose. After 11 weeks, the mice receiving sugar were doing fine, whereas the mice fed…

Researchers actually went much further than you assume and used microbe transplants to show that the gut microbiome from the sugar-fed mice rescued the artificial-sweetener-fed mice. And that similar transplants in the other direction resulted in the bad outcomes in the sugar-fed mice.

I don't think your speculation and armchair research is any more more helpful than the bad science journalism you complain about. If you don't know what you're talking about, maybe you could try keeping it to yourself.

Re: Artificial Sweeteners May Change Our Gut Bacteria in Dangerous Ways

#80

Post by brightsize »

zapt02 wrote: post #74
devy wrote: post #72

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sorry to ask this personal question, do you know if there is a name for the autoimmune problem that causes scores?

probably psoriasis

Or lichen planus.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lichen_planus#Oral_lichen_planu...

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