An artificially sweetened version of just about every product you want to buy is available at the supermarket. You can buy artificially sweetened yogurt, soda, cookies, gum and Jell-O.
Americans have been using artificial sweeteners for over a hundred years, but we did not begin to seriously question the safety of artificial sweeteners until the 1970s.
Artificial sweeteners have been accused of causing cancer and were later deemed safe for consumer use. Some people use artificial sweeteners to lose weight, while others claim that they cause users to gain weight.
Americans began to use saccharin, commercially sold as Sweet ’n Low, as early as 1878.
Its safety was questioned in the ’70s after studies found that rats fed extremely large amounts of saccharin developed bladder cancer. The studies triggered the great question of whether or not sweeteners cause cancer.
Great public demand for saccharin caused the FDA to place a warning label on the product as a possible carcinogen, a possible cancer-causing agent, instead of removing it from the market.
The studies done which demonstrated that saccharin might cause cancer involved feeding rats an extremely large amount of saccharin. For a 150-pound person to get the same cancer causing effects, they would have to consume hundreds of cans of soda containing saccharin for their entire life.
Later studies have indicated that reasonable consumption of saccharin, a few sodas or a couple of pieces of chewing gum, is safe for consumer use.
Aspartame, commonly called Equal or NutraSweet, is the most commonly used artificial sweetener in the United States. Aspartame is used to sweeten all Diet Coke products, as well as Wrigleys Extra chewing gum.
It is a very unusual artificial sweetener because every gram of aspartame contains 4 kilocalories, the same calorie content as carbohydrates and protein. Most artificial sweeteners do not have calories.
Aspartame is 200 times sweeter than sucrose, or table sugar, so a much smaller amount of it is used to sweeten products. Such a small amount is needed that the calories aspartame contributes to products aren’t counted.
All products containing aspartame carry a warning label for people with Phenylketonuria, or PKU, which is a genetic disorder that all babies in the United States are tested for at birth.
Intake of the amino acid phenylalanine, also found in chicken and almost every other protein containing food, can lead to irreversible brain damage.
Don’t be too worried about PKU. You were most likely tested for it at birth and would already know if you had it. Aspartame has been deemed safe for the average consumer to use in moderation.
The major drawback to aspartame is that it is not heat stable. If you try to bake with aspartame, it will break down to methanol, a poisonous substance.
Sucralose, commercially called Splenda, is a very popular artificial sweetener in the United States that is made from sucrose.
Sucralose has been chemically altered to include three chlorine atoms, so the chlorine atoms make sucralose unrecognizable to your body. Your body is unable to digest or absorb sucralose.
It is heat stable, you can bake and cook with it and it will remain safe for your body.
Many Americans have attempted to replace the sugar they get in their diet with artificial sweeteners.
Much controversy has developed as to whether artificial sweeteners help people lose weight.
Some people replace the sugar they get with their regular diet with artificial sweeteners. Others become addicted to the sweet flavor and consume more calories from sugar than they normally would. The jury is still out on artificial sweeteners in weight loss.
Although the usefulness of artificial sweeteners is still being disputed in weight loss, they have proven to be valuable for people who have diabetes and cannot consume large amounts of sugar.
The safety of artificial sweeteners will continue to be debated despite research that indicates that artificial sugars are safe for consumer use.
JoLee Seaborn is a senior majoring in nutrition. Her health column runs on Wednesday.
