Okay so here is the 411. Artificial sweeteners are just that, artificial. Fake. Synthesized. Not real. The purpose of artificial sweeteners is to give us something sweet but without the calories. Thereby (hopefully) assisting us in losing or maintaining our weight. There are currently 5 artificial sweeteners approved by the good ‘ole FDA [insert rude comment about hating the FDA here]. I’m going to cover one per article in detail so I don’t have to hear any bitch-ass “I didn’t know!” excuses. First up: Sucralose.
Sucralose (aka Splenda) Sucralose was discovered in a lab when some dumbass mistook the word “testing” for “tasting.” Why do I so rudely call this scientist a dumbass? Because he was trying to discover new pesticides. Then decided to taste them. Genius! This gem actually does start with sugar but then through a multi-step chemical shitstorm process some hydrogen-oxygen atoms are replaced with chlorine making it 600 times sweeter than sugar.
Sugar
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Sucralose
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They look pretty similar, right? So where is the harm? Its those dang pesky chlorine atoms! Chlorine is an element that is highly reactive. This means it’s super needy, always trying to bond with something else. That’s what makes it dangerous. When it isn’t naturally bonded to something (like sodium) it can form other dangerous molecules which beat up your cells. Jerks. Now I know you’re looking at the picture thinking “those chlorine’s are bonded to the molecule so I’m fresh good, right? That’s what they want you to think.
One of Splenda’s big marketing points is that it can be used as a 1-1 substitution with sugar. Meaning instead of using 2 cups of sugar in your cookies you can use 2 cups of Splenda. Guess what though? This article describes how sucralose has been found to be stable up to temperatures of 246 degrees F. Anything above that and it breaks down and can form those dangerous chlorine molecules. When is the last time you baked something below 246 degrees? Never? Oh. All those baked goods you are buying with sucralose in them?? Also heated to high temperatures. Dangit. And you “I just put it in my coffee” people- do you know what the appropriate temperature of a cup of coffee is? 160-185 degrees F. Too close for comfort, amigos.
Alright so lets pretend we aren’t going to use it for baking and we aren’t going to use it in super hot beverages. Is it okay now? Heck no, bro! This article describes how consumption of artificial sweeteners before consuming another carbohydrate source increases your blood sugar level and decreases your insulin sensitivity. Are you confused? This would be like if you put sucralose in your coffee and then ate a piece of toast (carbohydrate source) your blood sugar would spike higher and it would take longer for it to come down, this is no bueno, ESPECIALLY for diabetics.
We’ve talked a couple times about how important our gut bacteria is. Keeping your bacteria healthy helps keep your intestines healthy. Healthy intestines keep your immune system healthy. [Insert “it’s a circle” imitation]. Research has show sucralose messes with our bugs. I love gut bugs, that just makes me sad. It also increases production of proteins that cause inflammation in our gut.
Finally, this study followed people over a 9 year period of time and found that individuals who consumed artificial sweeteners ate less total calories than individuals who did not but still had a higher body mass index (BMI) at the end of the study. So they ate less and still got fatter. Well that sounds miserable.
I do have to be honest. For every study out there showing the negativity of artificial sweeteners there is another showing they don’t do harm [cough*fundedbysodacompanies*cough]. They’ve been show to cause cancer at high enough doses, do weird things to fetus brains, and damage DNA. Some argue that at low doses they are fine. Personally, I don’t want to just live at baseline, I want to be as healthy as I possibly can so I can think, move, play, and love to the best of my ability. And you just can’t do that when you fuel your body and brain with fake stuff.
When I cover the next artificial sweetener next week we’ll talk about what they can do to your brain. After all, who needs to be smart?
Questions?