What Are the Not-So-Sweet Truths About Artificial Sweeteners?

I loved Pepsi Max until I discovered this.

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From diet sodas to sugar-free gums, artificial sweeteners seem to be an integral part of our daily lives. They offer a sweet taste without the calories of sugar - what’s there not to like? I can remember for several months last year, I drank a can of Pepsi Max (definitely better than Diet Coke) every day to get a sweet kick while eating dinner. It definitely seemed an easy and harmless beverage without having to worry about gaining weight.

Photo by Launde Morel on Unsplash

Two events began to change my mind.

On a Deep Dive with Ali Abdaal episode, (starting from 49:14) dietitian Sophie Medlin highlights that when we drink beverages with sweeteners in them, our body wrongly anticipates that there is incoming sugar and starts to falsely prepare for it, including insulin production. This can leave us hungrier than usual.

More recently, the World Health Organization (WHO) issued a new guideline on non-sugar sweeteners (NSS), advising against their use for weight control or to reduce the risk of noncommunicable diseases (NCDs). According to WHO, a systematic review of available evidence indicates that NSS does not contribute to a long-term reduction in body fat in either adults or children. Additionally, potential undesirable effects have been noted from prolonged NSS use, such as the increased risk of type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular diseases, and mortality in adults.

This got me to do some more digging.

What are Artificial Sweeteners?

Artificial sweeteners are sugar substitutes that provide little to no calories. They are significantly sweeter than sugar, so less is needed to achieve the same sweet taste. Some common types include aspartame, sucralose, and saccharin. They are made either through chemical modifications in a laboratory or by being drawn out from natural elements. For example, aspartame is made by combining two amino acids, aspartic acid and phenylalanine. On the other hand, saccharin is created from a substance called toluene - a component found in crude oil.

The intensity of sweetness in these sweeteners is also pretty crazy. Aspartame and stevia pack about 200 times the sweetness of regular sugar. Saccharin and sucralose are approximately 300 and 600 times sweeter than sugar respectively. On the extreme side, neotame has an incredibly sweet profile that's 10,000 times sugar.