Until now, I've only heard that artificial sweeteners are 'bad for me' because they're either toxic, or they increase carb cravings. The mechanism has been mysterious; today I read a highly motivating explanation for giving them up in The Hormone Diet. I like explanations...so I'm sharing Dr. Natasha Turner's. She begins by noting that sugar-free product consumption has risen greatly, and continues to do so. Her counter argument isn't rooted in stories, or chatting with people, but in bona fide research, at actual universities. Hungry for knowledge? She puts it this way:
Despite the superficial logic that consuming fewer calories will lead to weight loss, the evidence is clear that using artificial sweeteners can, paradoxically, cause weight gain.
Research shows specific artificial sweeteners such as aspartame and saccharin are linked to cancer, but all artificial sweeteners are known to cause increased cravings and weight gain, and may subsequently contribute to insulin resistance. According to a study by researchers at the University of Texas San Antonio, middle-aged adults who drink diet soft drinks drastically increase their risk of failing weight later on. The study monitored the weight and soda drinking habits of more than 600 normal weight subjects aged 25-64. When researchers followed up with the participants after 8 years, they discovered those who consumed 1 diet soda a day were 65% more likely to be overweight than those who drank none. Drinking 2 or more low- or no-calorie soft drinks daily raised the odds of becoming obese or overweight even higher. The real shocker? Participants who drank diet soda had a greater chance of becoming overweight than those who drank regular soda! (pp. 232-233).
Although I'm not doing all this investigation to lose weight, I do expect it's going to happen as a side effect of figuring out what's making me puff up, and making me react, have headaches, etc......So this next bit was interesting too.
Artificial sweeteners appear to be a double-edged sword. They don't allow for the leptin release that normally happens when we eat the sugars that signal the brain that our hunger is satisfied. Moreover, even though artificial sweeteners don't cause our blood sugar to rise, our body still responds as though there's a sugar in the bloodstream by secreting insulin. Between the low leptin and high insulin, our appetite and cravings go haywire. Knowing that high insulin is a stepping stone to diabetes and obesity, we cannot overlook the connection to the number of diabetic, pre-diabetic, and overweight people who use these types of products (p. 233).
Aaand...regarding headaches, she adds some more science, which means I understand the mysterious warnings better than I did before. I'm no neurochemist/biologist/physiologist... but I do like to have some reasons for what I do, or don't do...rather than non-specific warnings of a thing's 'badness'.
Awful aspartame: When aspartame is broken down in the body, methanol is produced. Methanol, a neurotoxic alcohol, is hundreds of times more potent than the alcohol in alcoholic beverages. As a result of this chemical change in form, aspartame has been shown to cause neurological diseases and symptoms, including headaches, muscle spasms, dizziness, twitching, memory loss, migraines, and even seizures (p. 233).
Artificial sweeteners may also disrupt our natural ability to mental count calories based on the sweetness of the foods we eat, according to research conducted at Purdue University. This disruption may explain why more and more of us seem to lack the natural ability to regulate our appetite and food intake....the taste and feel of food in our mouth influences our learned ability to match our caloric intake with our caloric need. For instance, we learn very early on that both sweet tastes and dense, thick foods, signal high caloric content. Our natural ability to control how much we eat may be weakened when this natural link is impaired by consuming products that contain artificial sweeteners. These foods and drinks prompt us to eat more because they often have a thinner consistency and texture than regular, sugar-sweetened foods. You may have noticed this textural difference in the past when drinking diet versus regular soda or eating yogurt sweetened with artificial sweeteners (p. 234).
This has really satisfied my appetite for knowing why these baddies are so bad...I think it will be much easier to make better choices, now that I know the reasons. Yay science!
Cheers and chao!
Turner, Natasha. (2009) The Hormone Diet. Essence Wellness Inc, Random House Canada Ltd. ISBN 978-0-307-35648-2
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