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Nutrition Artificial sweeteners?

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Sean M

Sean M

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I switched to diet soft drinks a few years ago, and now prefer the taste over high fructose corn syrup in regular Coke/Pepsi - although the occasional Mexican Coke (with real cane sugar) is an occasional treat.

I am working on fat loss via a Warrior Diet/intermittent fasting strategy, and low-glycemic whole foods focus - grand strategy of minimizing time and amount of insulin secretion to allow maximum time for fat oxidation.

I have an interest in knowing whether artificial sweeteners - particularly the aspartame in Diet Coke - stimulates an insulin response and/or contributes to insulin resistance.

What I find online is either contradictory, or studies show correlation without direct causation. Examples:
- Mercola has an agenda/sales pitch and jumps right to causation
- Mark Sisson does not have as much of a direct sales pitch, and advises against them but for reasons other than blood sugar/insulin
- Sisson later reviewed diet soda with nothing definitive from the research, just more correlation

The latest angle with artificial sweeteners is effects on gut bacteria - this may or may not be the causal link.

On the other hand, I know several people who only switched to diet soft drinks from regular and lost weight, no other dietary changes.

I have also read that caffeine intake stimulates adrenaline (hence the caffeine high) and this helps promote fat oxidation, particularly while fasting. So Diet Coke for breakfast may rev up fat burning?

What is everyone's experience/opinion?
 
@Sean M "sweetener" for what? I like my coffee black, and beer bitter.

Seriously:

„...study conducted from the Duke University Medical Center and published in September 2008 in the Journal of Toxicology and Environmental Health indicates that Splenda reduces the amount of good bacteria in the intestines by 50 percent, increases the pH value in the intestines, contributes to increases in body weight, and affects the P-glycoprotein in the body in such a way that crucial cancer- and HIV-related drugs can be rejected and critical nutrients in general may not be absorbed (Abou-Donia et al. 2008). This is only one recent study among many illustrating considerable reason for concern and avoidance of these sugar substitutes. Also, both aspartame (Nutrasweet) and neotame can increase insulin and leptin levels in people who consume them and thus contribute to obesity.“
...
„The researchers who created aspartame and saccharine discovered their usability as sweeteners when, while doing research that had nothing to do with food or sweeteners, they decided to taste these chemicals and liked the sweet taste.“
...
„The researchers who developed sucralose, also known as Splenda, originally started out in an attempt to create an insecticide. (Yes, you read that right.) An assistant (obviously a genius) who was asked to test the compound mistakenly thought he was being asked to taste it (Coffey 2009). The rest, as they say, is food-industry history. You do the math with respect to how beneficial these substances are likely to be for your health.“

Nora T. Gedgaudas, Primal Body, Primal Mind

If i want to eat something sweet, I eat a banana - or chocolate, and do not feel bad about it.

Non-alcoholic beer, soya meat, artificial sweeteners, plastic kettlebells - just say no.
 
I see nothing wrong with aspartame. It has been thoroughly researched. I have been a regular consumer of Coke Zero. I have noticed no differences in my eating behavior or body composition whether I drank more or less of the stuff.

You will find lots of contradictory material on the internet about artificial sweeteners. They're all best to take with a grain of salt. Salt is an important anabolic!
 
@Antti google "Aspartame controversy". IMHO, the important thing is not the intermediate effect, but the effect 20 years from now. I am not a nutritionist, but when in doubt...
 
Hello,

@Sean M
Since I run a paleo diet, I just can not eat any sweetener anymore. It seems like my taste is much more sugar sensitive. It almost makes me nauseous. If I want to do something with sugar, I use organic honey or agave. Eventually, I eat a fruit

Kind regards,

Pet'
 
Pavel Macek said:
„The researchers who created aspartame and saccharine discovered their usability as sweeteners when, while doing research that had nothing to do with food or sweeteners, they decided to taste these chemicals and liked the sweet taste.“
Click to expand...
Wait, what? :eek:
New chemical that was not originally created to be used with/as food..."Let's taste it!"...
 
The only time I drink a fizzy drink is with vodka in it. Very rare but sometimes. When that happens I'm usually well gone anyway and will drink anything, to be honest.
The issue of artificial sweeteners is only one thing, it's the rest of the stuff that is in a bottle of fizzy nuclear waste that's more of a worry. I mean some of those drinks are of colours and wavelengths that don't exist in our current understanding of physics. Who knows what's in them!
 
Pavel Macek said:
@Antti google "Aspartame controversy". IMHO, the important thing is not the intermediate effect, but the effect 20 years from now. I am not a nutritionist, but when in doubt...
Click to expand...

I read the Wikipedia article with the headline. Maybe there's something I missed but the claims were rather typical and debunked.

Aspartame was discovered in 1965. It has been used in soft drinks since 1983. It has been thoroughly studied by multiple bodies all over the World. Nowhere have they found any serious evidence of ill effects in moderate use. And we have 34 years of use, so even long time effects should be visible.
 
Sean M said:
I switched to diet soft drinks a few years ago, and now prefer the taste over high fructose corn syrup in regular Coke/Pepsi - although the occasional Mexican Coke (with real cane sugar) is an occasional treat.

I am working on fat loss via a Warrior Diet/intermittent fasting strategy, and low-glycemic whole foods focus - grand strategy of minimizing time and amount of insulin secretion to allow maximum time for fat oxidation.

I have an interest in knowing whether artificial sweeteners - particularly the aspartame in Diet Coke - stimulates an insulin response and/or contributes to insulin resistance.

What I find online is either contradictory, or studies show correlation without direct causation. Examples:
- Mercola has an agenda/sales pitch and jumps right to causation
- Mark Sisson does not have as much of a direct sales pitch, and advises against them but for reasons other than blood sugar/insulin
- Sisson later reviewed diet soda with nothing definitive from the research, just more correlation

The latest angle with artificial sweeteners is effects on gut bacteria - this may or may not be the causal link.

On the other hand, I know several people who only switched to diet soft drinks from regular and lost weight, no other dietary changes.

I have also read that caffeine intake stimulates adrenaline (hence the caffeine high) and this helps promote fat oxidation, particularly while fasting. So Diet Coke for breakfast may rev up fat burning?

What is everyone's experience/opinion?
Click to expand...

The fat burning effect of caffeine is short lived. The effect is largely gone after a couple of weeks of caffeine use. In the 90s researchers attempted to accelerate other steps in the caffeine bio response pathway by adding ephedrine and aspirin to the mix (the infamous ECA stack) and that worked better but ephedrine was later banned due to safety issues.
 
Hello,

Stevia can be a good sweetener if want to stay organic, with a neutral taste.

Kind regarsd,

Pet'
 
I think that it is better to put away all artificial drink stuff. Drinking mainly water and espresso did wonders to my waist and taste buds. The one situation I can imagine drinking Coke is only together with a rum. But even then I will not ruin the taste with aspartame.
 
Hello,

To a certain extent, I tend to think that organic food is "better" on the long run. At least, I feel better that way. I avoid everything which is not natural, if I can.

Kind regards,

Pet'
 
Things I drink:

Water
Coffee
Tea
Occasionally flavored seltzer (no artificial sweetener)
Beer
Wine
Apple cider vinegar

I cannot imagine in 2017 any reason to drink soda, diet or not.
 
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