Are Artificial Sweeteners 'safe'?

[organized 0]

This was in the news today (local news channel):

A small bit of research is indicating that zero-calorie sweeteners could be making it harder for you to lose weight. How? By tricking your body into thinking sweetness doesn't mean extra calories. Basically, they're saying these artificial substitutes could make it a little harder to gauge caloric intake (which could lead to gaining weight). In addition, they're also pointing to a loose connection between high sales of diet soda and a rise in obesity. Considering the widespread use of sweeteners now in such drinks, they may not be too far off the mark. But naturally, companies producing these sweetener products call this study irrelevant. For one, it used lab rats -- and a very small number as well. Less than 30 rats were used to test these claims, causing one dietitian to say it does a disservice to the consumer. The weight gain observed in lab rats may not have any relevance to humans, after all, but it won't keep people from debating the effectiveness of artificial sweeteners.

 

What are your thoughts about it? I personally think that as long as you know what you're doing, you're playing safe. Maybe you shouldn't use sweetners if you don't know anything at all about healthy foods.

 

Notice from truefusion:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/section/healthy-living

[CrashCore 0]

I would say that making sure you maintain a healthy diet is the most important thing, as you mentioned. However, artificial sweeteners are indeed artificial... I prefer my nature-made sugar. Sugar has never harmed anyone! Just make sure you know how to control your consumption, as with any food or drink, and you will be fine.

[enchanted 0]

I usually use splenda........it is supposed to be derrived from real sugar, but I have read from different places that it's just as bad as twin and the other sweetners so now I don't know anymore

[magic 0]

I don't know either but I am a diabetic so I am not suppose to use sugar in my diet. In any case I am a big coffee drinker and I like my coffee sweet so I use sweetin low, splenda,equal. or any other sugar substitute out there.

[awesomebill61 0]

if artificial sweetners make you think sugar isn't bad for you, thats kind of a head game... not the fault of the sweetners.the flip side to that argument is, if artificial sweetners get rid of your sweet tooth, they've helped you a lot.i have, however, heard of some instances where its been proven that some of the chemicals in artificial sweetners can cause your appetite to spike, making you more hungry after you eat something with the artificial sweetner in it than you were before, but i have never noticed that.as far as the chemicals harming you, it generally seems that most of the studies done on rats (not humans) give the rats such a ridiculously large amount of these sweetners that a human being would never consume in a lifetime.keep in mind, for most artificial sweetners one pound of sugar equals anywhere from 200-400 pounds of the artificial sweetner, they're very very powerful.