Medical Disclaimer:
The content in this video is not intended to be a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Always seek the advice of your physician or other qualified health provider with any questions you may have regarding a medical condition.
In this episode of Abbey’s Kitchen, Abbey is having a fruitful discussion with her long time friend Diet Debbie. This time they’re chatting about the potential dangers of artificial sweeteners like Splenda.
Debbie sticks to her Splenda, because she’s convinced that sugar is the cause of all of the world’s health ailments from cancer to weight gain. Debbie loves the Splenda because there’s no calories so it’s obviously a no brainer.
Abbey wants you to first review this infographic that highlights the differences between sugar and artificial sweeteners: [ Ссылка ]
Debbie is tired of reading and already knows that artificial sweeteners are great for people that want to lose weight and even good for people with diabetes.
Abbey agrees that there are some benefits. In North America there is a serious problem with sugar sweetener beverages so artificial sweeteners are a great alternative because they can mimic the taste of sugar.
Debbie is finally excited because Abbey has always said there was no magic pill.
Before Deb gets too excited, Abbey wants to add that like anything in nutrition research, things change and in the area of artificial sweeteners, there is new evidence that contradicts what we once knew. On top of that Abbey found a few studies that have found a link between artificial sweeteners and a higher BMI. However, this may be more correlation than causation. Whether artificial sweeteners play a role in weight loss has been a pretty conflicting issue in the research community.
Well, Deb is convinced that’s never happened to her. Debbie claims artificial sweeteners helped reduce her cravings, crush her appetite and helped her eat less.
Abbey agrees that may be the case for some but not for everyone. The research is this area is fairly conflicting. The majority of studies have found that artificial sweeteners actually have very little impact on increasing or decreasing our hunger and our actual intake. Other research has shown that people eat more immediately following the consumption of artificial sweeteners.
Well now, Debbie is really confused. One thing Deb knows for sure is that sugar is addictive.
It’s funny Deb brought this up, because there is some new research that suggests artificial sweeteners may carry some additive properties, but this has only been tested in animal studies so far.
Now Debbie is curious about the use of artificial sweeteners for diabetes.
This is an interesting area, because new evidence is suggesting that the intake of artificially sweetened beverages by one serving/day was associated with an 8% greater incidence of type 2 diabetes. This may be linked to how artificial sweeteners influence the bacteria in our gut. On the other hand, another review concluded that it’s still not clear whether there is a strong association between artificial sweetener intake and the development of type 2 diabetes.
Debbie’s getting super confused and upset so now she’s going to stick to Stevia, because it’s all natural! Debbie is convinced that all natural is better, but Abbey’s not so sure.
In the 2017 review that was mentioned earlier stevia was included in the list of artificial sweeteners in the review which concluded that it may lead to weight gain, so stevia’s natural properties doesn’t seem to protect it from some of its potential causes. On the other side of that, a double blind controlled study found that stevia helped to reduce blood pressure. However, the most recent review concluded that there is not enough evidence to suggest stevia carries any benefits and further research is needed.
Debbie feels that again, Abbey has left her in the dark, and now has no idea what she’ll add to her favourite daily latte.
Abbey reminds Debbie that there isn’t enough evidence on the topic to make any definite statements and for now, people should be focusing less on which sweetener to use and more on how much sweetener we’re using.
For more tips on staying healthy, recipes, dieting, and information fit for consumption by foodies everywhere stop by Abbey’s blog.
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