Fake sugar/too much artificial sweetner bad for you?

I know, we've all heard that Sweet-n-low caused cancer in lab rats, but I am trying to shed some poundage, therefore have alot of artificial sweetner (all different kinds) throughtout the day.

Not to mention the fact that it's in almost every low-cal product I buy.

Is there any adverse affects on weight loss due to too much artificial sweetner? Does it make you more hungry? I once heard that they give you gas (luckily, i have not experienced that, haha). I don't wanna be thin and than develop some disease from sever art. sweetner intake, haha.

Any ideas?

Tue. Jun 26, 2:33pm

link to a recent study about the cancer link below.

I've tried to look into this before. If you google search "aspartame weight loss" there is differing information. It's hard to sort out the true from the false.

Some places say that there are absolutely no negative affects from Aspartame, and others will say that it will increase your appetite for carbs (by spiking your insulin levels, which can supposedly also increase your fat storage.)

I'm not going to side with either argument. My own practice is that I try to avoid aspartame, as well as most processed and refined foods. If I want something with sugar, I use sugar, and use a small amount, for example I like brown sugar with my oatmeal in the morning, but I use a small amount of it.

It hasn't been proven that it is completely safe, it just hasn't been proven if it's bad for you.

Link

Tuesday, June 26, 2007, 3:16 PM

artificial sweeteners are actually neurotoxins- toxins that affect the brain and nervous system. other chemicals that are added to food are neurotoxins as well. (MSG, dyes, "modified" ingredients, and many others) The side affects from these chemicals vary from ADD/ADHD symptoms, to Lupus, to depression, auto-immune disorders, you name it. the FDA knows this, but the food company lobbiests (sp?) would rather you didn't.

Wednesday, June 27, 2007, 9:37 PM

I just finished reading a book called "Sweet Poison". It's all about aspartame and how very bad it is for you. It was a real eye opener. Now all diet drinks are off limits for me! Personally, I'd rather get the extra calories than some disease. I would recommend the book and make your own decision from there.

Wednesday, June 27, 2007, 9:55 PM

Have Stevia instead. All natural and very healthy.

Wednesday, June 27, 2007, 9:56 PM

I knew the stevia suggestion was going to come up again. While we're at it let's get the rest out of our system :-)

Try using equal, it's better than sweet and low and tastes yummier.

Try using splenda, its made from sugar so it tastes like sugar.

No you moron, splenda has chlorine in it and will kill you like the chlorine in your shower water. Use brown sugar for sweetness.

All you people are so pumped full of sweetness, you need to wean yourself off of sugar! I don't use any sweetners and things like plain tea now taste so sweet to me.

Use maple syrup, its all natural and has lots of health benefits.

Use high fructose corn syrup, its been approved by the FDA and is in everything so it must be good for you right?

Am I missing anything?

But in all seriousness, the amount of sweet and low that they pump into lab rats is exponentially larger than any of us will ever consume. Try to stick to all natural products, but if you buy some low cal snacks or treats with artificial sweetners to have from time to time, you'll be fine. Just don't make them staples of your diet.

Thursday, June 28, 2007, 7:42 AM

isn't it an Exitotoxin rather than a Neurotoxin? Maybe the two are related.

Thursday, June 28, 2007, 10:17 AM

I really have no scientific facts to state like other posters, but I thought I'd throw in my $0.02. :)

I avoid all fake sweeteners like the plague. They make me SO sick. TMI - They put me in the bathroom 30 minutes after eating them. So, I figure they can't be healthy in the least.

Thursday, June 28, 2007, 11:01 AM

I consume both sugar and aspartame during the day, but not a lot, and have no weightloss problems. I think it is helpful to reduce one's "sweet tooth." We tend to think of people as having a sweet tooth or not, but is actually is something one can "cure" by tapering the amount of sweet food one is used to consuming over the course of a day.

Thursday, June 28, 2007, 11:27 AM

Has anyone tried agave nectar? I heard this is also a good natural sweetener to use, but I have never tried it myself. I thought I might check it out.

Thursday, June 28, 2007, 11:52 AM

ok..so use splenda. no cancer causing agents. as for the poster who wrote "no you moron, splenda has chlorine in it", and anyone else who believes this, let me tell you that you should do ur research before calling people morons. Splenda is made by substituting a hydroxide group in the sugar with a Chlorine atom. This does not make the splenda poisonous. There is less Chlorine in the splenda than in tap water, which we can drink in huge amounts without getting even faintly sick. So think about that.

Thursday, June 28, 2007, 12:44 PM

7:42 here

oh my goodness 12:44, read the whole post before you make a silly comment about it. I don't think the sarcasm in my post was too hard to detect (see "in all seriousness" at the end of my post) and i was refering to a previous thread where people were arguing about the "chlorine" in splenda which spouted a whole other thread about the deadliness of chlorine in shower water. I use splenda frequently and I was simply making light of the fact that people come on here and spout off their opinions about every sweetner available and we go around in circles arguing about nothing. Thank you for starting the mindless cycle again.

Thursday, June 28, 2007, 1:22 PM

a little artificial sweeteners in your day is not a big deal, but when you say "but I am trying to shed some poundage, therefore have alot of artificial sweetner (all different kinds) throughtout the day" I'm a little concerned.

Why do you need so much sugar, fake or otherwise in your diet? We all have a bit of a sweet tooth, and there is nothing wrong with treating yourself with something small occasionally but if everything you buy has some type of fake sugar in it, I would recommend looking closely at your diet/goals. Why not eat real foods instead, instead of "low-calorie" ones with fake stuff in them? Eating real foods-fruits, veggies, whole grains etc. will make you healthier, help you lose weight and are full of fiber to keep you full longer. Not trying to make assumptions about your diet, but it just sounds like you must eat a lot of junk-that should be more of a concern than calories. You can lose weight, and reduce calories by eating real foods! I would try to cut out some of the products with fake sugar in it and replace it with something natural. You will have more energy too!

Thursday, June 28, 2007, 1:54 PM

splenda has not passed the test of time.

Friday, June 29, 2007, 2:49 AM

stevia has shown in some studies to lower sperm count.

Friday, June 29, 2007, 2:51 AM

artficial sweetners

I have tried them all and it is to what you like. I prefer sweet 'n lo and sugar twim if I can't use stevia. To me equal takes more than one packet to even notice, and splenda lets more of a funky after taste than the rest. A friend of mine told me that she gets hungrier if she uses any sweetners. Also, I am new here and I am not into all the name calling. Everyone has their own opinion.

Friday, June 29, 2007, 5:51 AM

Don't let some of the other posters scare you half to death.

Artifical sweetners can help or sabotage your weightloss. It can help if your weakness is sugar and you want to have something sweet, but don't want the calories or the effects of sugar. On the downside, artificial sweetners can also trigger cravings in most people causing them to crave real sugar. This may then send you on a binge. This was a problem for me with a few diet sodas and sugar free treats so I don't consume those anymore.

The other downside is that some people fool themselves into thinking that if they have a sugar free snack then they can have that extra serving of something else at lunch or dinner. That extra serving is extra calories and may lead to weight gain.

Sugar-free or Low-sugar products also contain sugar-alcohols. These are not made from sugar but their cell or molecule structure look like sugar's own structure. These are what give you gas. Malitol, sorbitol, etc. If you eat too much of a product containing these ingredients then you will get gas.

I try to avoid sugar at all costs. There are more studies that show sugar is bad for you. And that means sugar in ANY form. Agave nectar, raw, natural, brown, barley malt, fructose (most of the times this is from corn, not fruit), sucrose. Those may have trace amounts of minerals and are not as highly processed, but the damaging effects are the same. Your body does not know the difference between all these "natural" sugars and table sugar.

I use splenda sometimes. I buy the granulated kind and put a little here and there in my oatmeal, lemonade. I've also used it to bake my own treats at home. But I have been avoiding products made with it. I am one of those whose cravings are triggered by it, but only when I get it from a processed food, not when I add it at home in very small quantities.

Aim to avoid sugar period. If you want something sweet, look for sweet fruits like strawberries, pineapple, mangos,etc.

I just recently read a book called Sugar Shock and it is explained very well in this book. No need to buy it, go to your library like I did.

Friday, June 29, 2007, 9:42 AM

My two cents

After I started logging my calories in peer trainer, I noticed that after drinking a coffee using artifical sweetner I tend to go to the vending machine to get cookies. That was enough to put a stop to using the artifical stuff. Now that I use just one packet of the real sugar and aware of my habits - no more bad vending machine stops

Friday, June 29, 2007, 11:07 AM

In some sense I agree with pretty much all of the viewpoints here. Although I think artificial sweeteners may not be completely risk-free I do believe that in small doses they are unlikely to cause an adverse reaction. What stops me though is that eating sweet things just makes me want more of them, and I like salty and greasy foods with my sweets too, so it's not just the craving for more sweets.

Friday, June 29, 2007, 12:14 PM

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