Have Artificial Sweeteners Side Effects

Artificial sweeteners are said to be safer than sugar. Though the government approved artificial sweeteners, there are new findings that they cause some dangerous side effects to their consumers.

Consuming artificial sweeteners can be limitless than doing it with sugar. The reports on the side effects that sweeteners cause the body, can be frustrating because for many, they seem to be sweeter and safer than sugar since they offer less damage to the body. That is why they are manufactured in the first place.
Sugar has been blamed by some as the culprit of obesity and overweight. Some people can resist the taste of sweet foods, others cannot. Those with “sweet tooth” feel addicted to sweets and sugar. As our consumption of sugar increase, so has consumption of artificial sweeteners.

Sugar intake can lead to some troubles like tooth decay and cavities, health complications such as obesity and overweight. Artificial sweeteners come into existence (without their reported side effects) because sugar that cause obesity can lead to type 2 diabetes, hypertriglyceridemia, hypertension and heart disease. So much sugar intake can also lead to osteoporosis, vitamin deficiencies and lack of minerals.

Controlling sugar intake is very vital to stay healthy. Non-diet soda, pop or softdrinks become the #1 source of added sugars.

Side effects

There is a theory that artificial sweeteners like sucralose and aspartame quickly lowers the immunity of the body to viruses. They can also trigger an oral or genital herpes breakout, very fast. There was even an announcement that an epidemic of systemic lupus and multiple sclerosis across the United States, on which the cause was never realized, and later blamed it on artificial sweeteners side effects.

When Aspartame reaches a temperature of over 86 degrees fahrenheit, its wood alcohol content transforms to formaldehyde, then formic acid that can cause metabolic acidosis. For systemic lupus, which is said to be triggered by Aspartame, becomes common to diet soda drinkers. This aggravates the lupus that can be fatal.

Controversy

Worse, artificial sweeteners have been claimed to cause cancer. Being in the US market since 1981, this triggered an urgent review by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for its safety in June 2007. This controversy emerged from a review by European Ramazzini Foundation (ERF) report published in Bologna, Italy in May 2007 that Aspartame is carcinogenic and cancer-causing. Cancer is a dreadful artificial sweetener side effect. Their tests were done in over 4,000 rats that consumed high doses of Aspartame and were allowed to live until dying naturally. ERF concluded that aspartame causes cancer and its use should be re-evaluated.
This report prompted a data review by the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) in May 2006 which concluded that ERF’s study was not supported with enough data and found it of no use to review its earlier scientific opinion on safety consumption of artificial or revise the acceptable daily intake.

Meanwhile, the US FDA also requested data from ERF for re evaluation which portion they received on February 28, 2006. On April 20, 2007, FDA completed its review on the artificial sweetener side effects. The review was “Long-Term Carcinogenicity Bioassays to Evaluate the Potential Biological Effects, in Particular Carcinogenic, of Aspartame Administered in Feed to Sprague-Dawley Rats” conducted by ERF Bologna, Italy. FDA found that the study data provided by ERF does not support the latter’s conclusion that aspartame is carcinogen, and that the data do not provide enough proof for FDA to change its earlier conclusion that aspartame use is safe.

What we can do

As consumers, the safest way is to consume sweets in moderation, much more with those with diabetes. The government may do its best to ensure that the products made available in the market are safe, but the end-result is for us to safeguard our own health is to make our food consumption balanced.