FYI: that's baloney. If anyone tells you something is bad for you for either of these reasons stop listening. They are stupider than you. That's a mean thing to say, I know, but when someone betrays their lack of knowledge of what chemicals are, or the fact that naturality has no bearing on whether a substance can be safely consumed. Some idiots even say it's a part of an grand conspiracy to force sterilization on an unsuspecting populace. In reality it's a conspiracy to make money from a product that people want.
Now that rant is out of the way, I'd like to consider artificial sweeteners. Are they good? Are they bad?
Let's assume for the moment that they aren't so poisonous as some would have us believe. I don't know of anyone who has experienced health concerns from over-consumption of aspartame or Sucralose, and have yet to hear of a credible report of an incident.
The whole point of these sweeteners is to make whatever they accompany less bitter such that it's palatable, which is pretty much why people use sugar. However when sugar (sucrose) is used, it's broken down into it's component fructose and glucose molecules which in turn gets fed into the citric acid cycle (Kreb's cycle) to ultimately create ATP.
Of all the molecules to be absorbed by your body glucose is probably the one that will be used for energy before all others. In fact your body stops using other sources of energy when glucose is detected (this is the function of insulin, it opens ports in your cells in response to high glucose levels, letting glucose in to get used up in the Kreb's cycle).
Insulin opens the gates in your liver and muscles to allow chains of glucose to build up as glycogen, but once the stores are full all excess glucose is stored as fat.
When glucose is being metabolized this way, very little fat or protein is used as an energy source. This is one of the underlying concepts of a low or slow carb diet. Ask any diabetic and they'll tell you in order to lose weight all they have to do is reduce their insulin intake and voila, an induced Atkin's diet!
So the whole point of an artificial sweetener is to tickle your tongues sweet receptors and then not turn into glucose to cause insulin spikes and/or enter the krebs cycle or turn into fat.
So they don't appear to cause serious disease, they make bitter foods palatable, and they don't affect the waistline? Duh.... count me in... start spooning out the Splenda!
Well some think it's not that simple, and there's 'a whole nother level' to be considered. The human body is a complex thing indeed, and the mere act of detecting a sweet flavour causes changes in our body. 'Sweet' food contain molecules that interact with specific 'sweet' receptors on the tongue that induce a neurological response. This response to the flavor alone, regardless of caloric intake, may have some other physiological effects, including inducing the release of insulin.
The short answer has two parts:
- Not all sweeteners are the same, there are sugar alcohols like mannitol, sorbitol, and xylitol which can't be readily transformed into glucose by your body. Then there's aspartame that is broken down into an amino acid, and a couple of other naturally occurring organic molecules almost immediately after ingestion. Aspartame will not be turned into glucose and will not contribute to blood sugar
- It's not currently known whether the neurological response to sweet flavor contributes to insulin levels or reducing the metabolism of fat or protein. My own opinion is that this issue has become confused and artificial sweeteners can be used without fear of resulting health concerns. In fact if you have to have sweetener to enjoy eating something I'd recommend stop consuming it, get used to eating it with out sweetener, or use aspartame. Its bad reputation is likely undeserved.
If a food you're eating has ingredients you can't pronounce, don't panic, use wikipedia!
