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WHO advises against use of artificial sweeteners

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Re: WHO advises against use of artificial sweeteners

#71

To be frank I do not know what to do. I have been trying to reduce my insulin resistance but most of the low carb protein powder seem to use some sort of artificial sweetener. Also this https://www.prevention.com/food-nutrition/a44156389/sucralos... So which one is less bad ?

If you can, start to lay off all sweets. Your taste will change, but you need to be patient. The end result is less desire for sweets. Totally worth it.

Pea protein with no flavor takes some getting used to but is quite healthy and filling. You can mix with some sugar free almond milk to help the taste.

Overall my suggestion is to start viewing food as fuel. Of course you should enjoy some meals but don’t allow yourself to be picky or give into cravings.

Again, once your mind and body start to correlate eating good foods with feeling good you’ve got it made. You won’t even want to drink alcohol, eat sugar or seed oils. You’ll shutter at the thought because you know they will make you feel like crap.

Re: WHO advises against use of artificial sweeteners

#72

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…

I'm super dubious about their conclusions here. Fat people drink diet soda because they are trying to avoid sugar. Diet soda actually tastes damn good these days, there isn't really a reason to drink regular soda.

They are trying to replicate the assault on your taste buds that is sugar soda. They've gotten pretty good at it.

The problem is that the levels of sweetness, acidity, salinity, carbonation etc. in diet soda have become normalized. People give these dessert drinks to children, and drink it like it's water.

You know how overpoweringly strong some chocolate mousse can be? The kind where you can't finish a tiny slice of cake because more than a tiny sliver on your fork is too rich? Or how some foreign cuisines can be so potently dosed with curry or pepper that you can't taste any other flavors in the dish? Imagine replacing white bread throughout your diet with that chocolate cake. Or the punch of salt and pepper on an egg with that level of curry.

Ask someone from 100 years ago to sweeten a glass of lemonade "to taste" and you'd get something so weak that a consumer of diet soda would mock it like the meme "hint of hint of lime" or "transported on a truck near strawberries" flavors of LaCroix.

Yes it's better that they drink diet than regular soda. No, it's not good to normalize that flavor. I think human appetites are just not set up to handle some stimuli that previous levels of foraging or farming, chemistry, and distribution systems could not create.

Re: WHO advises against use of artificial sweeteners

#73

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…

I'm super dubious about their conclusions here. Fat people drink diet soda because they are trying to avoid sugar. Diet soda actually tastes damn good these days, there isn't really a reason to drink regular soda.

Aspartame has a negative effect on the myelin sheath of neurons: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6014252/

As far as I know, all of the sugar alternatives have some (usually neuro?) downside that makes them scarier to me than sugar!

Re: WHO advises against use of artificial sweeteners

#74

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Eh I get what you're saying but I don't think most people who switch to vaping actually stop quit nicotine all together, they just continue vaping with often higher levels of nicotine. I guess they have the advantage of getting rid of second-hand smoke and the permeating smell of cigarettes. I think a similar thing happens with "diet" "sugar-free" products. Almost all of the people who use these products neglect ever…

Nicotine itself is not more harmful than coffee or similar products. It is the smoking that is the main health risk. Assuming that vaping is less harmful, that would make it a win if one was to choose between smoking and vaping. Of course, doing neither is the absolute best choice.

Slight clarification: Nicotine at normal doses is not more harmful than coffee - though at high volumes it is pretty bad. In the context of this conversation though what you said is totally true.

Re: WHO advises against use of artificial sweeteners

#76

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Nicotine itself is not more harmful than coffee or similar products. It is the smoking that is the main health risk. Assuming that vaping is less harmful, that would make it a win if one was to choose between smoking and vaping. Of course, doing neither is the absolute best choice.

Excuse me? That's irrevocably false. Where did you pull that misinformation from? The big vape industry? https://www.verywellhealth.com/what-is-nicotine-5075412 " There are many health risks and side effects associated with using nicotine. Some of the health risks include: Nicotine contributes to the development of emphysema—a type of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease— in smokers. It’s potentially carcinogenic. C…

Do we really know what portion of this isn't just correlation between nicotine and the fact that it has to be administered which usually involves smoke, fiberglass irritation, etc?

I think the main problem with nicotine is its addictiveness and the fact that that will lead you to accept risks in administration via cigarettes, toxic fluid vapors, chew with fiberglass, etc.

Re: WHO advises against use of artificial sweeteners

#77

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?

If your goal is to lose weight, it seems like diet coke is the better choice short-term (because it has much less calories) and normal coke the better choice long-term (because according to studies, NSS don't help long term and to reduce their other long-term effects).

So I guess if you drink a coke once in a while, diet coke is better and if you drink coke very often, you should stop drinking coke.

Re: WHO advises against use of artificial sweeteners

#78

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I fully agree. The main argument is that if you use sweeteners you will eat more sugar, so it is worse than sugar. So basically don't eat the non-poison because it will cause you to eat poison, so instead eat the poison itself. Also, there is no concrete evidence that sweeteners are bad for one's health, it's more the feeling of 'chemicals' are always bad. Sugar is clearly bad and causes obesity and diabetes. The cho…

This depends on the sweetener. There have been recent articles linking bad health effects to erythritol and sucralose that I am aware of.

Damn, I thought erythritol was downside-free. Looks like it is associated with a nontrivial risk of heart attack and stroke

https://www.realsimple.com/study-links-stevia-and-monk-fruit...

Re: WHO advises against use of artificial sweeteners

#79

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm super dubious about their conclusions here. Fat people drink diet soda because they are trying to avoid sugar. Diet soda actually tastes damn good these days, there isn't really a reason to drink regular soda.

> Diet soda actually tastes damn good these days, there isn't really a reason to drink regular soda. I've been wondering about that. I wasn't sure if my memory has faded or maybe drinking it often made me like the taste but these days I find Diet Coke/Coke Zero to be equally enjoyable as Coke. Have the taste of the non-sugar Coke been steadily modified?

You also will change your tastes as you get older. So, could be a change in the sodas, could be a change in you.

Re: WHO advises against use of artificial sweeteners

#80

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.

It's probably the caffeine in Coke that keeps you going back. By the way: the newly reformulated Pepsi Zero has a lot more of it.
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