In the last few decades, as more and more data on the harmfulness of refined sugar to our health has emerged, we’ve slowly been transitioning to consuming other types of sweeteners. Our obsession with avoiding calories has led the companies in this business to develop dozens of zero calorie products that we started swarming to. New research, however, shows that these products can be as harmful to our health, and they can lead to diabetes and obesity. This even includes the seemingly harmless products, such as diet sodas.
One of the most commonly used additives in the food industry are artificial sweeteners. Once we started to transition to using them instead of refined sugar, research was conducted on the impact that artificial sweeteners have on our health. In the early days, the results were contradictory, with about half of the studies showing that the use of artificial sweeteners is safe, and the other half showing the opposite. This divide in the scientific community early on is believed to be caused by the sponsorships behind the studies, as the food industry wanted to transition to the new, cheaper way of sweetening their products, and they spared no expense in funding the studies that went in their favor.
First independent studies done on the artificial sweeteners were using rats as their test subjects. Their research showed that rats that were being fed artificial sweeteners seemed to lack control over the amount of food they consume. This was later linked to the fact that artificial sweeteners inhibit our, and rats, ability to properly monitor the calorie intake. Simply put, artificial sweeteners make us unable to fill full, and make us eat more than we need to.
Studies being conducted nowadays show that the biochemical impact artificial sweeteners have on our body is not only limited to monitoring our food intake. According to research, regular consumption of artificial sweetener enhanced products negatively impacts our hormone production, as well as our entire cardiovascular system.
Switching most of the world to artificial, zero-calorie sweeteners still lead to an overall increase in obesity and diabetes rates. This rise is often described as drastic by medical experts and the scientific community, including Brain Hofmann, PhD, who is leading the study on the impact of these additives on our health at the Medical College of Wisconsin and Marquette University. His study led to finding that similar impacts on our health are exhibited by both refined sugar and zero-calorie artificial sweeteners, even though through different mechanisms. The research also showed that our body is more than capable of handling sugar in moderate doses, but once we start consuming excessive amounts of it, it becomes overwhelmed, which causes health issues. Replacing the sugar with the artificial variety with no calories leads to problems with fat and energy metabolism, study shows. Dr. Hoffman says that prolonged and constant consumption of both types of sweeteners, natural and artificial ones, significantly increases the potential for health issues. As most people find it hard to live without them, cutting down on the sweeteners is the best option for your health, in the long run.
Source: https://www.naturalblaze.com
