Sunday, March 17, 2019

Artificial sweeteners might be worse than sugar.


Too much sugar is bad for you. It has been linked to obesity, heart disease, diabetes, depression, acne, and even cancer.  But switching to artificial sweeteners to lower your total sugar use may present even more health risks.

The current theory is that along with too many calories from a high sugar diet, the blood sugar surge after a high sugar snack is the reason for many of the negative health impacts. This surge releases insulin which in turn forces the extra sugar calories directly into fat cells in our body and also increases damage to the lining of our blood vessels.

If too much sugar leads to obesity, diabetes, and heart disease, it would make sense that decreasing both total calories and the blood sugar spikes should be a plus for our health. And artificially sweetened drinks sound ideal. They satisfy that craving for something sweet without the harmful potential of sugar.

However a 2015 study of 100,000 women followed for 8 years revealed a 30% increase in the death rate (mainly from heart disease) in those drinking two or more diet sodas a day.

And last month another study confirmed the health risks when it highlighted a 25% increase in strokes in that same group drinking more than two diet sodas a day.

The common factor in heart attacks and strokes is small blood vessel disease.  It doesn’t make a lot of sense. Less sugar should translate to less blood vessel damage not more.

Further investigation suggests it is the colon bacteria, our microbiome, that holds the missing piece to the puzzle. The food we eat is never completely absorbed by our upper digestive tract and the “leftovers”  make their way to the colon where they provide a food source for the many types of bacteria.

Artificial sweeteners impact the microbiome in two ways. First they change the balance of the colon’s bacterial community, directly suppressing the “good” bacteria which digest dietary fiber providing us with health promoting short chain fatty acids. And at the same time they directly stimulate the growth of “bad” bacteria, the source of blood vessel harming toxic molecules.

It is a deadly combination. Decrease the production of fatty acids which lower cholesterol and moderate high blood pressure, protecting our blood vessels, and increase the level of toxic molecules that directly harm the blood vessels as they rev up the immune system and body wide inflammation.

And beyond strokes,  there is the increased risk of dementia, another small blood vessel disease, also more common as the intake of artificially sweetened sodas increases.

Can you do anything to blunt the risk of these artificially sweetened drinks?

No, nothing lessens the effect of artificial sweeteners on the microbiome. Although it is boring, water is your only real alternative.  Between meals, when you are thirsty, make yourself a cup of tea or grab a glass of water instead of that soda (sweetened or diet). For variety, perhaps a carbonated water drink such as LaCroix (carbonated water, flavorings) - no sugar or artificial sweeteners to worry about.

The only logical role for diet drinks is in weaning yourself off  sugar based drinks of all types, in the transition to water and other healthier beverages. That is as a crutch in that process (analogous to using nicorette gum to help stop cigarettes)

Real sugar sweetened drinks can be healthier than those artificially sweetened if used as part of a meal which blunts the speed of absorption.  Otherwise they are just as harmful, the only difference being their effects are via a direct impact on insulin and fat metabolism, not indirectly via the colon bacteria.

Another option for a sugar-ed soda is as an energy drink when you are exercising (when they are rapidly metabolized by your exercising muscles without needing insulin).

















http://www.drmirkin.com/nutrition/artificial-sweeteners-weight-gain-and-diabetes.html

Additional references after article published.

Artificial sugars make you want more sugar!! https://nutritionfacts.org/2020/01/14/why-drinking-diet-soda-makes-you-crave-sugar/

Effect of sucralose on the microbiome. https://nutritionfacts.org/video/flashback-friday-effect-of-sucralose-splenda-on-the-microbiome/

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