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Artificial Sweeteners May Change Our Gut Bacteria in Dangerous Ways

scientificamerican.com

81–90 of 159 posts

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

#81
post #47

"He and his team analyzed a database of 381 men and women and found that those who used artificial sweeteners (...) were also more likely to have impaired glucose tolerance." So those who are intolerant to glucose tend to avoid glucose? That hardly seems surprising.

The point is that over time using artificial sweeteners causes this intolerance.

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

#83
post #57

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That article has a lot of fear mongering about artificial sweeteners and then at the bottom an ad for "certifiedorganicevaporatedcanejuice.com". Maybe it's not the most objective source of information?

Rumsfeld was the CEO at Searle - the makers of Aspartame... And he used his political influence to replace the FDA commissioner so Aspartame could be legalized. That's a conflict of interest.

While scummy, that doesn't necessarily mean that Aspartame is dangerous.

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

#84
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…

>>I am skeptic about the safety of all artificial sweeteners - especially ones new to the market

Stevia is not artificial and has been used in Japan for decades. It is recognised as a mainstream sweetener. It's also used in Canada, for example, though not so widespread yet.

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

#85
post #57

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That article has a lot of fear mongering about artificial sweeteners and then at the bottom an ad for "certifiedorganicevaporatedcanejuice.com". Maybe it's not the most objective source of information?

Rumsfeld was the CEO at Searle - the makers of Aspartame... And he used his political influence to replace the FDA commissioner so Aspartame could be legalized. That's a conflict of interest.

its legal in plenty of other places and the bulk of research (some very recent) seems to show that it is very safe within the constraints of those studies, with the well documented and understood exception of people with phenylketonuria.

this makes it very hard for me to believe in the corruption argument, no one individual has the power or money to do something on that scale. maybe its a coordinated effort, but such arguments strain credibility. even if we assume corruption, it is not relevant to the safety discussion if we have piles of evidence that something is only dangerous in well understood cases.

on the other hand, we will never really know for sure, and we don't even have a complete picture until enough people have been consuming it for long enough 'in the wild'... but the same is true about anything discovered recently.

and of course, the individual case you point out is shocking regardless as to the safety of aspartame.

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

#86
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…

Actually, the combination of your two comments was very enlightening.

It's always appropriate to try and understand the world, and then discuss what doesn't make sense to you. This is a great example.

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

#87
post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Technically I don't think its artificial. However, I notice that most Stevia products also contain dextrose. I don't think dextrose is considered artificial either but still, it begs the question why Stevia alone isn't enough and/or if dextrose is low or zero calorie then why not just use that?

Dextrose is a filler starch. Raw concentrated sweetener would be more than you could handle, so the dextrose is added to allow you to use the artificial sweetener like you would use table sugar, e.g. spooning it or baking with it. If you buy liquids then you don't get filler starch like dextrose.

Hmm. I bought a small container of pure stevia powder from Whole Foods, and it has a little tiny spoon I'd say about 1/20th a teaspoon. Put even that small amount in a cup of tea and it is as sweet as a whole packet of sugar.

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

#88
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…

> I don't think your speculation and armchair research is any more more helpful than the bad science journalism you complain about.

Anonymous people on the Internet can't be held to the same standards as a research paper. On the contrary, since this is largely a public opinion forum I believe that commenting without evidence is encouraged and it's up to the reader to make a determination about said opinion.

What a silly idea that we aren't allowed to publicize opinion.

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

#89
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…

I believe it's the carbonated water that cuts the salt and grease. I used to drink a lot of soda and switched to carbonated water so I understand what you mean by lubricant.

My wife has a similar autoimmune problem. She also drinks 4-5 diet cokes a day. I wonder if there is a connection. There are flora in your mouth too.

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

#90
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…

I also have a bad Diet Coke habit. Drink cans and cans a day. I hear Elon Musk and Bill Gates also drink copious amounts. I wonder what it is about Diet Coke that's so addictive.
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