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WHO advises against use of artificial sweeteners

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Re: WHO advises against use of artificial sweeteners

#101

Post by hendersoon »

Someone1234 wrote: post #10

This was posted when it was published in May. To use an analogy their argument is: Vaping is bad for you, don't do it. While ignoring that a ton of people quit smoking using vapes and that they're letting the perfect be the enemy of good. Same thing with NSS. While NSS are a useful tool for sugar reduction, studies have shown that over the medium-long term, you'll want to reduce artificially sweat foods and even swea…

Well, exactly right. I'm not choosing between putting a packet of splenda in my coffee or drinking it black. I'm choosing between a packet of splenda or two packets of sucrose. I'd find a study telling me which one of those is the better choice to be very helpful.

Re: WHO advises against use of artificial sweeteners

#103

Post by hospitalJail »

Ever since I found out WHO is fine with doing anti-science things like having a 'panel of experts' make health proclamations without evidence; I'm not sure who uses the WHO. (A panel of 'experts' said if a 1 month old watched tv for 1 second, they would have detrimental effects. No science to cite, 0, but like 9 names of random old people were cited.)

If the WHO says something, you need to go through all the work of checking their sources, and in this case, there was no source:

>The recommendation from the World Health Organization (WHO) is based on a review of available evidence which suggests that artificial sweeteners do not help control body mass or reduce the risk of weight-related illnesses.

I'm a bit offended that I pay taxes to such a prominent anti-science organization. I don't mind the idea of a world health organization, but to be so brazenly anti-science and pro-authority is the last thing I want.

Re: WHO advises against use of artificial sweeteners

#104

Post by dtx1 »

I was (and technically still am) pretty addicted to sugary drinks and energy drinks. Switching to diet soda and sugar free energy drinks helped me lose a lot of weight and got me an easier way to start regulating my weight and nutritional input. I would not have considered starting without the availability of these substitutes and I am glad I did. To condemn them without the context of the individual that may be like in my case substituting liters of sugar water and energy drinks a day seems rather short sighted

Re: WHO advises against use of artificial sweeteners

#105

Post by inversetelecine »

zouhair wrote: post #13
firstfewshells wrote: post #2

I don't know what kind of an egregious organization the WHO is. First they let millions of people consume sugar alternatives for years, if not decades. Then they release a report saying those alternatives may lead to premature deaths. At this point, I feel like saying, F** it. I'm just gonna consume whatever the f** I feel like without ever reading about or listening to anything in the news.

It is quite sad that even in Hacker News are people lacking basic knowledge on how science works.

It's hard, because sometimes I'm told "The science is settled" then other times I'm told it's always changing.

Re: WHO advises against use of artificial sweeteners

#106

Post by 0zemp3c »

probably_wrong wrote: post #57
raspyberr wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This article seems to recommend having water instead.

Right. But if I have to choose between diet and normal coke, which one is objectively worse for my health now?

> But if I have to choose between diet and normal coke

no one has to make that choice

Re: WHO advises against use of artificial sweeteners

#108

Post by beezlebroxxxxxx »

busyant wrote: post #95
Someone1234 wrote: post #10

This was posted when it was published in May. To use an analogy their argument is: Vaping is bad for you, don't do it. While ignoring that a ton of people quit smoking using vapes and that they're letting the perfect be the enemy of good. Same thing with NSS. While NSS are a useful tool for sugar reduction, studies have shown that over the medium-long term, you'll want to reduce artificially sweat foods and even swea…

> to create a "new normal" or new baseline where an e.g. strawberry is sweat again. Just an interesting story. About 5 years ago, I tried to cut out all processed carbs from my diet. After several months, I was away from home and I had to eat something ---the only thing open was a Dunkin Donuts. I ordered an egg-white sandwich on a plain English muffin, and for kicks I took a bite out of the English muffin. Holy shit…

I had the same experience when I went from peanut butter that is just ground peanuts to some peanut butter from some of the big brands. The big brand PB tastes like cake icing.

Re: WHO advises against use of artificial sweeteners

#109

Post by jrmg »

busyant wrote: post #95
Someone1234 wrote: post #10

This was posted when it was published in May. To use an analogy their argument is: Vaping is bad for you, don't do it. While ignoring that a ton of people quit smoking using vapes and that they're letting the perfect be the enemy of good. Same thing with NSS. While NSS are a useful tool for sugar reduction, studies have shown that over the medium-long term, you'll want to reduce artificially sweat foods and even swea…

> to create a "new normal" or new baseline where an e.g. strawberry is sweat again. Just an interesting story. About 5 years ago, I tried to cut out all processed carbs from my diet. After several months, I was away from home and I had to eat something ---the only thing open was a Dunkin Donuts. I ordered an egg-white sandwich on a plain English muffin, and for kicks I took a bite out of the English muffin. Holy shit…

I’m sure it did have added sugar. Basically all American supermarket bread products (including most bread!) do, and are are super sweet to Europeans.

It extends shelf life though. European supermarket bread will mould in usually less than a week, but it’s really unusual for an American bread to go mouldy.

Re: WHO advises against use of artificial sweeteners

#110

Post by Semaphor »

martinsnow wrote: post #89
Semaphor wrote: post #67

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I actually thought sweet stuff was sweet long before doing low-carb. I think a big difference is that here (Germany) we don’t put a ton of sugar and/or sweetener in pretty much everything. From what I’ve heard, that’s a thing in the US, and I know that it’s a thing in South Africa.

I can attest to that, coming from Denmark but living in Germany now. My wife is Thai and the food in southern Thailand can be sickly sweet, but if you travel to northern Thailand they usually leave out the sugar in foods. Sugar and sweetners are insidious. Once you get used to sweet salads, you won't like normal salads anymore and then one start putting sweetners in every meal. It's surprising how unhealthy a salad c…

> Once you get used to sweet salads

Ewww. I’m normally a regionalist, my state (SH) over the others. But sweet salad is a traditional thing here. I always make myself forget about that fact. It’s disgusting.

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