Do Artificial Sweeteners Make You Fat?
There seems to be a lot of confusion and misconceptions revolving around non-caloric sweeteners. You might have noticed that a great deal of products that contain artificial sweeteners are marketed as "healthy foods" or "healthier" than sugar or corn syrup sweetened products. But are they really? The most popular artificial sweeteners on the market today are: Splenda (sucralose), Aspartame, Saccharine, and Acesulfame Potassium (aka - acesulfame K).
These artificial sweeteners are used in abundance in almost every "diet" drink, "lite" yogurts, puddings, and ice creams, most "low-carb" products, and almost all "reduced-sugar" products. Heck, even most protein powders are loaded with artificial sweeteners too (just look on the ingredients and you'll usually see one or more of them). Splenda is probably one of the worst offenders of claiming to be "healthy" as they say that it's made from real sugar. Don't be fooled! It's still an artificial substance. What they don't tell you is that Splenda is actually a chemically modified substance where chlorine is added to the chemical structure, making it more similar to a chlorinated pesticide than something we should be eating or drinking.
The truth is that artificial sweeteners are not even close to being healthy, and can easily be just as bad for you, if not worse, than sugar or corn syrup. Most people think that they are doing something good for themselves by choosing the "diet" drinks or "lite" yogurts compared to the sugar-laden versions, but the problem is that you're exposing yourself to a whole new set of problems with the artificially sweetened drinks and foods. The fact is, artificial sweeteners vs. sugar or corn syrup is really just a battle between two evils. Which evil is worse?
You already know the problems with sugar or high fructose corn syrup sweetened products. The excess empty calories, blood sugar spike, and resulting insulin surge this creates in your body not only promotes fat gain, but also stimulates your appetite further, making things even worse. On the other hand, artificial sweeteners save you calories, but there's growing evidence that they can increase your appetite for sweets and other carbohydrates causing you to eat more later in the day anyway. Therefore, you don't really save any calories at all. Also, studies have shown that artificial sweeteners can stimulate high insulin levels in your body too, which again can promote fat storage.
These artificial sweeteners are used in abundance in almost every "diet" drink, "lite" yogurts, puddings, and ice creams, most "low-carb" products, and almost all "reduced-sugar" products. Heck, even most protein powders are loaded with artificial sweeteners too (just look on the ingredients and you'll usually see one or more of them). Splenda is probably one of the worst offenders of claiming to be "healthy" as they say that it's made from real sugar. Don't be fooled! It's still an artificial substance. What they don't tell you is that Splenda is actually a chemically modified substance where chlorine is added to the chemical structure, making it more similar to a chlorinated pesticide than something we should be eating or drinking.
The truth is that artificial sweeteners are not even close to being healthy, and can easily be just as bad for you, if not worse, than sugar or corn syrup. Most people think that they are doing something good for themselves by choosing the "diet" drinks or "lite" yogurts compared to the sugar-laden versions, but the problem is that you're exposing yourself to a whole new set of problems with the artificially sweetened drinks and foods. The fact is, artificial sweeteners vs. sugar or corn syrup is really just a battle between two evils. Which evil is worse?
You already know the problems with sugar or high fructose corn syrup sweetened products. The excess empty calories, blood sugar spike, and resulting insulin surge this creates in your body not only promotes fat gain, but also stimulates your appetite further, making things even worse. On the other hand, artificial sweeteners save you calories, but there's growing evidence that they can increase your appetite for sweets and other carbohydrates causing you to eat more later in the day anyway. Therefore, you don't really save any calories at all. Also, studies have shown that artificial sweeteners can stimulate high insulin levels in your body too, which again can promote fat storage.
All of the 4 artificial sweeteners listed above are nasty chemicals that the human body is simply not meant to ingest. However, most of us are ingesting a whole lot of these chemicals on a daily basis. Aside from the problems discussed above, other health issues that have been related to artificial sweeteners in scientific studies as well as observations are:
Now some of the above potential health problems are definitely not proven as fact in studies. However, some of them have been shown in animal studies given high doses. Regardless of the fact that any real health problems for actual human use are not proven yet, protect yourself and steer clear of these possibly dangerous artificial chemicals. The bottom line is that the body was not designed to deal with foreign substances like artificial sweeteners. So what are your options for alternatives? Well, your best alternatives for sugar or corn syrup are either raw honey, organic maple syrup, or even a little-known high antioxidant syrup called sorghum syrup (common in the southern US). Even though these alternatives still have the same amount of calories as sugar or corn syrup... honey, organic maple syrup, and sorghum syrup actually provide some nutrients and antioxidants, so it's not just empty calories. Empty calories stimulate your appetite more because your body is lacking nutrients. If you still want to save on calories and avoid the nasty artificial sweeteners, try Stevia. It is not artificial like the other chemical sweeteners. Stevia is a natural non-caloric herb. It is a South American herb and when dried into a powder, has a sweetness about 200-300 times stronger than sugar. Since Stevia is a very powerful sweetener, so you can easily use too much. Do yourself a favor (and your family), and if you are currently an artificial sweetener junkie, please consider switching to stevia. You can use it in your coffee or tea, to sweeten up plain yogurt, add to smoothies for extra sweetness, on cereals or oatmeal, in baking, or where ever else you might need a sweetener but want to reduce the sugar content. The author of this article is Michael Geary, a nationally Certified Personal Trainer, Certified Nutrition Specialist, a recognized International Fitness Expert, contributing writer for Muscle & Fitness Magazine, and author of the internationally-popular The Truth about Six Pack Abs. |  Tips to Lose Belly Fat FAST! |
