Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Artificial Sweeteners May Change Our Gut Bacteria in Dangerous Ways

scientificamerican.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

151–159 of 159 posts

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

#151

Post by sten »

cpeterso wrote: post #130
gojomo wrote: post #101

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Caffeine and phenylalanine, in addition to the sweetness-without-actual-energy that is likely backfiring to create further sweet-cravings. (I wouldn't be surprised if research eventually concludes regular Coke is safer than Diet Coke, even given the problems with HFCS. So, if trying to quite Diet Coke, you might 1st want to try substituting regular Coke... which you might find more satiating and thus consume less of,…

Yep, there are a couple recent studies showing diet sodas have no weight loss benefit over regular soda.

Well it does, if all else is head steady. But the issue seems to be that nothing is held constant in reality and the missing sugars are made up for with snacks elsewhere.

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

#152

Post by hncomment »

Hytosys wrote: post #121
hncomment wrote: post #102

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Some such sores, if occasional, may just be canker sores: http://www.healthline.com/health/canker-sores I've noted a correlation with: stress or lack of sleep; candy binges; eating scratchy foods like say popcorn.

I've been suffering from these blasted things for 18 years, and have similarly noted the same sorts of correlations. My best efforts: cutting out gum; cutting out sharp foods; cutting out acidic foods; taking vitamins B-12 and C, L-lysine, and zinc; switching toothpastes and brushing techniques. I regret not recording my history of occurrences, but I perceive things are improving. At the very least, it's safe to say…

You reminded me: I switched years ago to SLS-free toothpaste (Biotene), because that's supposed to help. And for many reasons, I now eat way less sugar and sugary drinks. Maybe because of those changes, or just age, I get canker sores much less frequently. When I was younger, it was maybe 2-3 times a year, and sometimes 2 at once. Now I go a year or two between single, smaller ulcers. Good luck!

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

#153

Post by jheriko »

gojomo wrote: post #134
jheriko wrote: post #109

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm not sure you can describe an essential amino acid as an addictive substance... sure there is a strong desire to consume it, but its closer to things like oxygen, water or any vital thing that keeps you alive. Caffeine on the other hand has a well understood and documented mechanism of physical dependence, but its considered extremely mild compared to substances traditionally considered addictive (nicotine, alcoho…

Do people crave phenylalanine beyond the essential levels needed? There's strong hints some do, via both diet sodas and sugar-free gums. And there's a plausible mechanism, given phenylalanine's relation to key neurotransmitters, and its use in treating depression and other neurologic disorders. (I suppose we could raise the same question about food in general. Obviously food is necessary, but can it ever make sense t…

we are still comparing apples and oranges even with your argument...

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

#154

Post by jheriko »

jeorgun wrote: post #116
jheriko wrote: post #107

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Well done for cutting something out and losing weight to try and improve your health, this is an admirable goal. However, from your tone I would hazard a guess that the problem is not your diet coke so much as your desire to consume so much that you are choosing diet coke as an optimal lubricant to enable that. You can't compare a habit like this to smoking imo, which is chemically addictive with a reasonably well un…

Nah, I don't think it's a sign of bad health. I'm in reasonably good health (and if anything underweight), and drinking soda definitely makes eating a lot of greasy food like fries easier/more pleasant than drinking something like water. If I were in the habit of drinking soda regularly, my diet would probably get worse just for that reason.

i have never noticed this and i consider myself to be /disgustingly/ decadent.

reading these kinds of comments makes me feel like a saint

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

#155

Post by edwinespinosa09 »

AnkhMorporkian wrote: post #66
darcyparker wrote: post #56

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Interesting - thanks. [Edit] - The ketogenic diet is interesting. And I can see how some would want to substitute sugar for an artificial sweetener to help achieve a low carb diet. But given Aspartame is a known trigger for many types of seizures, it should be introduced carefully.

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

To add, most of the studies done on rats had "normal dosages" of aspartame for Humans not Rats. In other words the dosage was not relative to the rats mass it was relative to ours.

http://www.efsa.europa.eu/en/efsajournal/pub/2089.htm

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

#157

Post by 6t6t6 »

imron wrote: post #97
6t6t6 wrote: post #95

I really don't understand the need for "diet" soft drinks. I mean, soft drinks are ok, to drink sometimes. But if someone is drinking enough soft drink to worry about the amount of sugar intake, then he is drinking too much sodas. Soft drinks are like "light" cigarettes. What is the problem about drinking water?

I once made fun of a friend for drinking a "diet" soft drink. Turns out he was diabetic and couldn't drink regular ones. I stopped making fun of people drinking diet soft drinks after that. I agree though that water is the best :-)

I was not making fun about people drinking soft drinks. My point is that sweet drinks are unhealthy, no matter witch kind of sweetener they use. For me, the fact that there's people that ONLY drink soft-drinks (including fruit juices) is quite shocking. But anyway, seeing the amount of downvotes I got, I guess I touched some kind if american social tabu.

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

#158

Post by SomeCallMeTim »

zaroth wrote: post #118
SomeCallMeTim wrote: post #77

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

Plot twist: the sugar loving bacteria in our gut secrete a chemical which cause the sugar cravings.

Actually, that's believed to be the case [1], which is why I said what I did.

[1] http://medicalxpress.com/news/2014-11-bacteria-gut-affect-cr...

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

#159

Post by throwwit »

darcyparker wrote: post #142
serf wrote: post #129

Earlier quoted context omitted.

forgive me for asking perhaps an obvious question , but did you reduce overall caffeine intake by switching from diet coke, or did you stick to something with similar caffeine levels and still experience the reduction in seizures?

I was 8 years old and my family rarely drank soda. I went from having a diet coke occasionally to occasionally having a regular coke, ginger ale, root beer, etc... So I don't recollect changing my periodic intake of caffeine. I didn't do a thorough study of it... and I recognize that the logic that aspartame was a trigger could be wrong. But when you find something that appears to work and later hear of others who id…

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phenylketonuria
Post reply on HN