• Artificial sweeteners are now being associated with long-term weight gain and increased risk of diabetes, hypertension or high blood pressure, heart disease, metabolic syndrome and obesity.

Over many years, we have seen artificial sweeteners as the way forward in giving people what they wanted:- satisfying their craving for sweetness without the calories. Over many years there has been a steady stream of new sweeteners with better profiles delivering an unheralded level of intensity. The trouble is they may be linked to metabolic syndrome, obesity and diabetes which seems terribly counter-intuitive (Swithers, 2013).

One consequence according to the latest research suggests that having spared the calories by replacing full sugar with artificial sweetness, its encouraged over eating, an increased appetite and just as much energy intake. How is this possible ?

Researchers have published in the Canadian Medical Association Journal a systematic review with meta-analysis (Azad et al., 2017). This review analysed the effects non-nutritive or artificial sweeteners have on the average health of a person. The research identified hitherto hidden aspects that there were long-term risks in the over-consumption of artificial sweeteners. The conditions were increased levels of obesity, poor cardiovascular health, metabolic syndrome and diabetes.

A number of reasons for this have been postulated:

• Non-nutritive sweeteners may not turn off the appetite control centre
• Foods which contain these sweeteners simply do not have a satiating impact so we just do not feel full enough and we continue eating.
• Artificial sweeteners upset the gut bacteria which are increasingly being associated with how we metabolise so many of our foods.

A number of nutritionists do countenance caution. The main thought is balance and rationing in diet. Artificially sweetened products do not necessarily mean low calories given the presence of many other calorific ingredients such as carbohydrates (including sugar), fats and even proteins.

The review centered on evidence gathered from the University of Manitoba’s George & Fay Yee Centre for Healthcare Innovation. The researchers examined 37 studies on 400,000 people for about 10 years. Only 7 of these were randomized controlled trials which is the ideal in clinical nutrition studies. These involved 1003 people followed for 6 months on average. The press on this review claimed:-

“The trials did not show a consistent effect of artificial sweeteners on weight loss, and the longer observational studies showed a link between consumption of artificial sweeteners and relatively higher risks of weight gain and obesity, high blood pressure, diabetes, heart disease and other health issues.”

The overriding conclusion is that artificial sweeteners are not helping us in managing our health because of the issues being raised.

Typically, in this particular area of research, the evidence is often conflicting and certainly not straightforward. Dr. Meghan Azad, (Assistant Professor, Rady Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Manitoba) who is the lead author states:-

“Caution is warranted until the long-term health effects of artificial sweeteners are fully characterized.”

“Given the widespread and increasing use of artificial sweeteners, and the current epidemic of obesity and related diseases, more research is needed to determine the long-term risks and benefits of these products.”

References

Azad, M.B……….(2017) Nonnutritive sweeteners and cardiometabolic health: a systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials and prospective cohort studies. CMAJ July 17, 2017   vol. 189 no. 28   doi: 10.1503/cmaj.161390

Swithers, S. E. (2013). Artificial sweeteners produce the counterintuitive effect of inducing metabolic derangements. Trends in Endocrinology and Metabolism: TEM, 24(9), 431–441. http://doi.org/10.1016/j.tem.2013.05.005