Chloe Groeneveld
Jan 16, 2024
In society today, especially in a society that has an increasing rate of obesity, anyone can go to the store and buy sugar-free candies, sodas...and almost all things deemed unhealthy sweets. In the nutritional category, it seems almost too good to be true...which in fact might be the case. Foods that have any sort of labels that indicate the food or drink is sugar free, usually contain sugar substitutes. One type in particular is “Nonnutritive sugars” (NNS), AKA artificial sweeteners. Let’s dive deeper into
this sugar substitute and figure out how it affects the body's health. According to PubMed Central, Artificial Sweeteners can be found in all sorts of products ranging from foods/drinks to mouthwashes and even drugs. The United States Food and Drug Administration (USFDA) has approved 6 different types of artificial sweeteners; saccharine, aspartame, sucralose, neotame, acesulfame-K, and stevia. The USFDA has claimed them to be “Generally Recognized As Safe” and that is why the sweeteners are in the GRAS category. Studies on some Artificial Sweeteners have proven to be damaging to human health. Cyclamate (Artificial Sweetener) was added to tabletop-packaged sweeteners, as well as diet sodas and foods. In 1970 The United States banned Cyclamate was banned because of connection to causing cancer and increasing the risk. Another Artificial Sweetener is Saccharin. Saccharin is found in chewing gum, canned fruit, baked sweets, and sodas tabletop sweeteners, medicines and vitamins. This Artificial Sweetener has been studied and linked to changing the microbes in mice stomachs and could result the same in humans as well. The USFDA’s approval of Artificial Sweeteners is quite scary, especially on the fact that not much testing is done before it they are approved for consumption. The miscommunication in the nutrition world of Artificial Sweeteners is dangerous and must be understood. To end the obesity growth rate and create strong healthy bodies, Sugar Free is Not the Key. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4899993/