Human beings usually love sweet tastes. Maybe there is an evolutionary reason why sweet things are so attractive to us. The sweetness of food could remind our ancestors in the wilderness that it is nutritive, while bitterness was usually a sign of toxicity. The food industry usually takes advantage of this attraction. They add both natural and artificial sweeteners to different foods to increase their appeal and to entice us to buy them. From a health point of view, this extra sugar could be the source of many problems, including obesity. With many natural sweeteners, we can get fat. But what about artificial sweeteners? Do Artificial Sweeteners Cause Weight Gain? Let’s take a more in-depth look.
Classification of sweeteners
A sweetener is any substance that is added to food to make it sweeter than it naturally is. Here is a simple classification of sweeteners:
Nutritive sweeteners
Sugars: We have previously mentioned the structure of carbohydrates. By sugars, here we mean monosaccharides and disaccharides. Monosaccharides are like glucose, galactose and fructose, and disaccharides are like sucrose, lactose and maltose. They are nutritive because they give us calories. We see them in the ingredient list of the food as honey, invert sugar, lactose, liquid sugar, maltose molasses, sucrose and “high fructose corn syrup,” which is a processed, high fructose cornstarch.
Sugar alcohols: These are sweet molecules with a hydroxyl group in their structures. Some examples include xylitol, sorbitol and mannitol. The calories they add is less than that of sugars. They may provide 2-3 calories/g as compared to the 4calories/g of other carbs. One sugar alcohol, called erythritol, has almost zero calories. While table sugar has about 4 calories/g, erythritol has just around 0.24 calories/g. And, it is about 70-80 percent as sweet as table sugar.
Non-nutritive sweeteners (artificial sweeteners):
In this group, we have compounds that are sweet, but the calories they add is very minimal. These sweeteners include:
Artificial sweeteners: These include saccharin, aspartame, sucralose, neotame, acesulfame-K and advantame.
Plant-derived sweeteners: In this group, we have stevia and monk fruit.
In the above classification of sweeteners, we consider sugar alcohols and non-nutritive sweeteners, either artificial or plant-derived, as low-calorie sweeteners. Interestingly, many of these low-calorie sweeteners are much sweeter than sugar; for this reason, they are sometimes called “intense sweeteners.” You can find the low-calorie sweeteners in many foods, beverages, candies, ice creams, chewing gums and anything that has the label “sugar-free” or “diet.” Now, regarding the widespread use of these low-calorie sweeteners, there are two primary questions that we need to answer:
Do sugar alcohols and artificial sweeteners cause weight gain?
Compared to sugars, sugar alcohols have almost half calories, and artificial sweeteners are nearly zero in calories. So simple math shows us that using foods and beverages with low-calorie sweeteners will not cause weight gain, at least as long they are used in moderation. However, the evidence regarding the effects of the long-term use of these sweeteners is not consistent, and experts can not still recommend these sweeteners as part of a healthy diet
Are they safe to eat?
There have been some concerns about the safety of artificial sweeteners. Saccharin, which is the oldest one, was once a culprit in causing bladder cancer, but today experts do not see any link between saccharin and bladder cancer. Some scientists believe that children and pregnant women should be cautious about the consumption of aspartame. People with a disease called phenylketonuria should avoid aspartame. Large doses of sugar alcohol may cause diarrhea. Some studies show that these sweeteners may increase the risk of metabolic syndrome and type 2 diabetes. Overall, although low-calorie sweeteners are not deemed unsafe, it seems that the findings are mixed and solid data is still lacking. So, to be on the safe side, maybe the best recommendation is that adults use them in a small amount and for a short time. Children should also avoid using them in the long term because of unknown effects.
