Can sweetener be harmful?

Before we start, we need to clarify some concepts about sugar.

IT IS NOT POISON, BUT IT IS NOT HARMLESS EITHER.

In our society, we consume 3 times more sugar than the maximum recommended by the WHO (about 25 grams). Remember that this is a maximum, not a recommended amount. Therefore, the discrimination it is facing does not seem exaggerated to me; if we manage to reduce its consumption, it would be a great step.

The problem arises when certain industries adapt to this era and begin to market "sugar-free" products. We, being so gullible, often fall into their marketing traps.

Most of the sugar we consume today does not come from the sugar cubes we add to coffee, but rather from processed products without us realizing it.

Some processed products are not only unadvisable due to their free sugar content, but also due to other components that are not nutritionally beneficial. These can include: poor quality fats (trans fats, palm oil, etc.), excessive salt (for a product to be considered high in salt, it must have more than 1.25g per 100g), highly refined flours, or sweeteners.

Let's get straight to the point with artificial sweeteners.

As I said before, to adapt to the "low sugar" era and try to turn their unhealthy products into "healthy" ones, all without sacrificing flavor (a phrase used by Cola Cao or Coca Cola), the industry replaces sugar with artificial sweeteners.

We have all heard at some point that these sweeteners are carcinogenic; let's see how much truth there is to this.

We know of studies in which these sweeteners fare very poorly. According to these, their consumption in very high doses over long periods favors the appearance of some types of cancer in ANIMALS. We cannot always extrapolate these results to humans.

On the other hand, other more recent studies suggest that there is not enough evidence to confirm this.

 

What does it mean that they are not harmless?

That a substance is safe does not mean it should be consumed without moderation. We know that the overuse of sweeteners can cause some long-term problems.

• Damage to our gut microbiota: The gut microbiota consists of millions of bacteria, which reside in our intestines and are responsible for numerous vital processes, one of which is preventing the proliferation of some viruses or pathogenic bacteria.

The scientific evidence we know today suggests that some bacteria in our gut microbiota can degrade calorie-free sweeteners, leading to potentially toxic substances at high doses.

• Behavioral component: For people who consume large amounts of sugar, it would be interesting to replace it with a calorie-free sweetener as a first step. The ideal would be to gradually reduce the amounts until not relying on any type of sweetener, as unconsciously we will mistrain our palate, and this will lead us to fall into the temptation of unhealthy foods due to our high sweetness threshold.

If we are used to very sweet flavors, it will be very difficult for us to avoid temptations, especially in the obesogenic world we live in.

CONCLUSIONS

We have seen that artificial sweeteners are safe but not harmless. We must accustom our palate to the real taste of foods and not look for healthy substitutes because they do not exist... coffee tastes bitter, natural yogurt tastes sour, and so do all foods to which you or the manufacturer add sugar.