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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

#111

Post by rando3826 »

rodly wrote: post #110
encoderer wrote: post #105

I can't remember the source, but somebody was speaking recently on the US healthcare system. He made the point that the proof our healthcare in this country is broken is that when you go to the doctor to complain about illness nobody has ever been asked "How have you been eating?". Unless you have specific medical restrictions, there is little time spent on how your diet affects your health. My dream of quantified-se…

I think part of the reason for this is that generally speaking, people who eat poorly know they're eating poorly and would rather have their cake and eat it too. They know soda is bad for them and that apples are good for them. That sitting all day long doesn't expend a lot of energy and running the back hills for a half hour does. So when someone asks an ill person who eats poorly "How have you been eating?" they kn…

Meh, your both wrong. When appropriate, doctors do ask about diet, they do recommend changes to diet, it does make a difference, and being healthy is not necessarily simple.

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

#112

Post by Illotus »

Science reporting is really hard. This story comes off as if there was enough research to start to move away from the researched sweeteners. Especially the part in the end is laughable: "Segal, for one, is taking no chances: he says that he has switched from using artificial to natural sweetener in his morning coffee."

However the study done on humans had small sample size, the only studied sweetener was saccharin and the subjects were given the full ADI. These are very preliminary studies and are useful mostly for deciding future study targets. So not really studies to base your diet decisions on.

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

#113

Post by mathgeek »

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.

> Guess which had blood sugar spikes at the end of the challenge... the one eating fat/protein.

I believe this is thoroughly discussed in The Four Hour Body, amongst other things. It's the reason you eat beans and other "slow carbs" on that diet, since breaking down fat without any carbs will spike your sugar.

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

#114

Post by lucaspiller »

jleyank wrote: post #103
nathanvanfleet wrote: post #99

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I got a job at a company that had free soda. I was happy with that. I started drinking 1 diet coke in the afternoon every day. until after a few weeks I realized I was also getting a headache in the afternoon everyday. Fixed by switching to Perrier over the Diet Coke.

Granted, one person is an anecdote not data but switching from coke to diet coke lost me 20 lbs in a year. 500-1000 calories less each day.

You must have been drinking around 2 litres of Coke for that many calories. Have you tried switching from Diet Coke to water? You'll need a few trips to Starbucks a day (an americano has 0 kcal, it's like caffeinated air!) until you can reduce your caffiene dependence.

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

#115

Post by lnufnu »

mrfusion wrote: post #9

Does anyone have any thoughts how Xylitol or Erythritol might fare under a study like this? They're currently my go to sweeteners. I'm not sure why they're not more popular.

Xylitol is probably the best sugar alternative you can use. Dr. Ellie Phillips promotes it in her book Kiss Your Dentist Goodbye because the reseach has demonstrated that harmful bacteria are unable to utilize it for energy. I would assume since this is why it is beneficial to use in oral products, it would also provide the same benefits for stomach bacteria. It seems that erythritol is also unable to be used for energy. This is not true for all sugar alcohols; after exposure to sorbitol over a short period, bacteria can adapt to use it as an energy source. It also can contribute to reflux.

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

#116

Post by jeorgun »

jheriko wrote: post #107
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…

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.

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

#117

Post by nkozyra »

late2part wrote: post #32
Zelphyr wrote: 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?

Friendly correction, "begs the question" doesn't mean what you say in your post. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Begging_the_question

Tragically, too many people are disinterested in the actual meaning of words and phrases.

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

#118

Post by zaroth »

SomeCallMeTim wrote: post #77
pkaye wrote: post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

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

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

#119

Post by MicroBerto »

darcyparker wrote: post #8

Aspartame (Nutrasweet) is pretty controversial in how it got approved by the FDA. See: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/robbie-gennet/donald-rumsfeld-... When I was 8 years old, I started having grand mal seizures and my parents noted a strong correlation between drinking a Diet Coke and having a seizure. When they eliminated it from my diet, my seizures declined. Fortunately I stopped having seizures around 12 years of…

You're definitely not alone. There's definitely a trend moving in this direction. We admittedly track the click data on our protein powder buyer's guide (https://blog.priceplow.com/guides/best-protein-powder) and far more people than you'd think have been choosing the natural sweetener path.

But interestingly, the number of products is still incredibly small in comparison. Hmmm...

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

#120

Post by lnufnu »

amputect wrote: post #63
mrfusion wrote: post #60

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I put two tbsp of xylitol into my smoothies and I've never had a problem. It's also supposed to be good for your teeth. I do wonder how something can be so dangerous for dogs and safe for humans. Aren't our cells almost identical?

Yeah, xylitol inhibits bacterial growth in the mouth. I like it in gum, it seems to help me. It seems like different people have different tolerances for xylitol to some extent; I know that my wife, who is much smaller than me, has a higher absolute tolerance than I do (i.e. if we eat the same amount without accounting for body weight, I will experience discomfort and she will not). I'm not a vet but I'm waiting on s…

You can adapt to xylitol in your diet. It is best to introduce it slowly into your diet. Chewing gum is a great way to use it daily and increase your intake over time. Dental recommendations are 6-10 grams per day, but most people would experience discomfort starting off at that amount.
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