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WHO advises against use of artificial sweeteners

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Re: WHO advises against use of artificial sweeteners

#171

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…

>> No science to cite, 0, but like 9 names of random old people were cited.

If those people were experts, they would have been the ones writing any papers cited and they'd be repeating the results from those papers.

Re: WHO advises against use of artificial sweeteners

#172
post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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

Oh we know how it works. Science was bought out by Big industry a long time ago and is as much of a religion as Christianity

I don't think this forum is suited to your kind of short sighted opinions. Life is more complicated than your black and white world view.

Re: WHO advises against use of artificial sweeteners

#173
There's a huge difference between: - Don't use this, it's harmful to you, and - Don't use this, it won't make things actively better.

Study after study has shown that it is extremely, almost absurdly difficult to lose weight and keep it that way in the long term.

If "not actively causing long term weight loss" is the only criteria for advising against something, then we should be advising against a heck of a lot more things that are perfectly fine.

It's phrasing like this that causes people to go on crusades against random foods, rather than actually using moderation in all things.

Re: WHO advises against use of artificial sweeteners

#174

I’m not giving up my Coke Zero. It’s an indulgence that I can live with long term. Unlike alcohol, donuts, pizza, and all the other shit that I enjoy but have to severely restrict.

Nobody's going to make you give up your Coke Zero. The sweetener epidemic has, however, deprived me of things I enjoy. Coke, fortunately, remains available in "Classic" form, but here in the UK many drinks are no longer available without sweeteners: Vimto, Irn Bru, Tango, Lilt, Ribena, Robinson's Barley Water, Schweppes Tonic Water - all are now full of aspartame and saccharin in their non-"diet" variants. As a perso…

To me what is saddening is that those were your childhood tastes. That stuff should never have been allowed to be sold to kids. Coloured sugar water should not be what someone remembers as a childhood treat.

Then again, I understand. I'm a long-term exile to the UK from a Mediterranean country. Fruit and veg in the UK are absolutely tasteless and therefore pointless as anything but a sort of medicine. You guys are really unlucky.

Well at least you got... turnips.

Re: WHO advises against use of artificial sweeteners

#175

There's a huge difference between: - Don't use this, it's harmful to you, and - Don't use this, it won't make things actively better. Study after study has shown that it is extremely, almost absurdly difficult to lose weight and keep it that way in the long term. If "not actively causing long term weight loss" is the only criteria for advising against something, then we should be advising against a heck of a lot more…

The article states reasons for its recommendations in addition to not being effective for long-term weight loss:

"WHO also noted that “potential undesirable effects from long-term use” of NSS, such as an increased risk of type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular disease. The results of the review also suggest that there may be other dangerous consequences such as the increased risk of premature death among adults."

Re: WHO advises against use of artificial sweeteners

#176
post #95

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…

refined sugar

I don't think there is any difference to your body between sugar and 'refined sugar'. It is all going to have a lot of fructose in it.

Things like agave syrup or whatever else are just tricks to make people think they are getting healthy sugar.

Re: WHO advises against use of artificial sweeteners

#177

Earlier quoted context omitted.

American bread certainly does go moldy, but the sugar absorbs moisture and keeps the bread softer longer. That being said, I'd much rather they used less. At this point it's pretty hard to buy a hamburger bun around here [SF] that doesn't taste like a brioche to me.

I started making baking at home when pandemic lockdowns started and with only flour, yeast, salt, oil and sugar my bread grows mold within one to two days (2 cups of flour with 1 teaspoon of sugar) I speculate my home humidity might be high without air conditioning or heat but it seems a lot of something is necessary to prevent commercial bread products from molding for a long time.

Do you store it in a plastic zip-bag? I saw the most rapid bad changes either at room temp for days, or in the fridge and long after it was killed.

Re: WHO advises against use of artificial sweeteners

#178

Earlier quoted context omitted.

American bread certainly does go moldy, but the sugar absorbs moisture and keeps the bread softer longer. That being said, I'd much rather they used less. At this point it's pretty hard to buy a hamburger bun around here [SF] that doesn't taste like a brioche to me.

I started making baking at home when pandemic lockdowns started and with only flour, yeast, salt, oil and sugar my bread grows mold within one to two days (2 cups of flour with 1 teaspoon of sugar) I speculate my home humidity might be high without air conditioning or heat but it seems a lot of something is necessary to prevent commercial bread products from molding for a long time.

Sourdough takes substantially longer to grow mold than most other types of bread plus it is delicious and doable to make at home.

Re: WHO advises against use of artificial sweeteners

#179

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Nobody's going to make you give up your Coke Zero. The sweetener epidemic has, however, deprived me of things I enjoy. Coke, fortunately, remains available in "Classic" form, but here in the UK many drinks are no longer available without sweeteners: Vimto, Irn Bru, Tango, Lilt, Ribena, Robinson's Barley Water, Schweppes Tonic Water - all are now full of aspartame and saccharin in their non-"diet" variants. As a perso…

To me what is saddening is that those were your childhood tastes. That stuff should never have been allowed to be sold to kids. Coloured sugar water should not be what someone remembers as a childhood treat. Then again, I understand. I'm a long-term exile to the UK from a Mediterranean country. Fruit and veg in the UK are absolutely tasteless and therefore pointless as anything but a sort of medicine. You guys are re…

What a bizarre little drive-by. You make several assumptions about my life, tastes and eating habits that couldn't be further from the truth, but I don't have to defend myself. I'm sorry to hear you've moved to the UK but aren't earning enough to afford decent fruit and veg.

Re: WHO advises against use of artificial sweeteners

#180

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've been in America only once while overnighting in a hotel near LAX en-route to New Zealand from the UK. Everything I ate at that hotel tasted sweet from the pizza I ordered that night to the toast I had in the morning. What should have been delicious and savoury was instead sickening and unpleasant - it was so weird.

I’m from Europe and had a similar experience on the first visit to the US. It’s like the sugar level is set to max for everything lol.

The food industry is really trying hard to kill Americans. Sugar everywhere, and all kinds of additives and processing everywhere else.
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