|
Dear Fellow Athlete, |
|
|||||||
 |
|
|
Thread Tools | Display Modes |
|
#1
07-17-2006, 11:34 PM
|
|||
|
|||
|
Artificial Sweetners
Artificial sweeteners: Okay in moderation
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- By Harvard Health Publications Related Links Medical Encyclopedia Sugar substitutes can provide the sweetness and "lite" many people crave. Our appetite for sweet things comes naturally. Newborns favor a sweet taste over bitter or sour, and studies with adults suggest that our enjoyment of sweetness is innate. Not everyone has a demanding sweet tooth; science suggests there’s a genetic reason why some people crave sweets more than others do. But we like a sweet taste enough that about 16% of calories in the average American diet come from added sugar (as opposed to sugars found naturally in foods such as fruit). A teaspoon of sugar contains only 16 calories, but over the course of a day, the sugar calories that we add to our cereal, coffee, and tea — plus the amount contained in many prepared products — can pile up. Thus, it may make sense to turn to artificial sweeteners to keep calories under control without giving up some of our favorite foods. In fact, 90% of Americans eat low-calorie products, most of which contain one of five artificial sweeteners approved by the FDA. Sugar substitutes also allow people with diabetes to enjoy sweet-tasting foods without the harmful metabolic effects of sugar. Although FDA-approved, ubiquitous, and generally accepted, some artificial sweeteners continue to be dogged by safety concerns. But with rare exceptions and at reasonable levels of consumption, they appear to pose little or no risk. How do they work? Artificial sweeteners add sweetness without calories in two ways. First, they are so sweet — 160 to 13,000 times sweeter than sugar — that you need only a tiny bit to achieve the equivalent taste. You consume a fraction of a calorie to get the sweetness of many more calories worth of sugar. Second, the body doesn’t fully absorb them and therefore doesn’t fully absorb the few calories they contain. Low-calorie sweeteners Low-calorie sweeteners, also known as sugar alcohols or polyols, are 50%–92% sweeter than sugar and have only a few calories per gram. They’re found strictly in packaged goods, listed in the ingredients as sorbitol, mannitol, xylitol, erythritol, and D-tagatose. All sugar alcohols are absorbed slowly and incompletely by the intestine, which is why they have little caloric effect. However, this property can also cause gas and diarrhea if you consume too much, for example, more than 50 grams per day of sorbitol or 20 grams per day of mannitol. Alitame (Aclame), a low-calorie sweetener used in several other countries, is under consideration for approval in the United States. A sweetening product called stevia (extracted from the leaves of a South American plant) is available as a dietary supplement and is advertised as a natural alternative to artificial sweeteners. However, laboratory studies have found that it causes metabolic and reproductive problems in animals and may be mutagenic. The FDA and regulatory agencies in other countries have not approved its use in foods. How safe are they? Although artificial sweeteners are considered generally safe, some experts remain wary. On the one hand, the American Dietetic Association (ADA) recently published a comprehensive report on sugar and artificial sweeteners affirming that artificial sweeteners are safe used in the amounts specified by the FDA (see chart below). The ADA also suggests that artificial sweeteners can improve the quality of an individual’s diet if adding them to fruits, vegetables, and whole grains encourages the consumption of healthful foods. On the other hand, Michael Jacobson, executive director of the Center for Science in the Public Interest, a nutrition advocacy organization, believes that animal studies linking saccharin to cancer are a reason to ban it. He also contends there’s not enough evidence on the sweetener aspartame to be sure that it’s completely safe. On its Web site, the National Cancer Institute discusses observational human studies generated by research conducted in Canada in 1977 linking saccharin in extremely high doses (the equivalent of hundreds of cans of diet soda a day) to bladder cancer in rats. Research published in 1980 in Lancet compared 3,010 bladder cancer patients to 5,783 people without the disease and found that people who consumed six or more servings of artificial sweeteners (cyclamate and saccharin) or 16 ounces or more of diet drinks daily had an increased risk for bladder cancer. However, the researchers noted that the difference was small and the results inconsistent. The study didn’t confirm a strong or even moderate risk of increased bladder cancer from the artificial sweeteners. Studies since then have failed to replicate the results of earlier animal research. In 2001, the government’s National Toxicology Program removed saccharin from its biannual report on carcinogens, where it had been listed as an "anticipated" human carcinogen since 1981. Cancer experts now say that the bladder tumors developed by the rats in the original experiments were related to mechanisms not relevant in humans. Even Jacobson allows that the chance of a person getting cancer from an artificial sweetener is "very, very low." Kathy McManus, who heads the department of nutrition at Boston’s Brigham and Women’s Hospital, considers the ADA paper a good guideline, but she’d like to see more research, because so many people "are being brought up on these products." Artificial sweeteners can be useful for weight or blood sugar control, but there are alternatives. You can train your taste buds to appreciate unsweetened flavors. Instead of reflexively stirring a sweetener into your coffee or sprinkling it on top of your cereal, try going without. Rather than diet soda, choose lightly flavored sparkling water. Eat smaller portions of the sweet foods you like rather than larger quantities of their sugar-free substitutes. Here is the link for the article and chart, I couldn't get the table to paste correctly.... http://health.msn.com/dietfitness/ar...ntid=100098750 * The ADI is set by the FDA. It is about 1/100 of the amount shown to have no toxic effects in animals. ** The EDI is based on the amount consumed by people whose intake exceeds that of 90% of the population. † Because saccharin has been on the market for about 100 years, it didn’t go through the same pre-market testing as the sweeteners introduced later; therefore, the FDA has not set an ADI for it. The Joint Expert Committee of Food Additions of the United Nations Food and Agricultural Organization set this particular ADI. The EDI for saccharin is from the book Risk: A Practical Guide for Deciding What’s Really Safe and What’s Really Dangerous in the World Around You (2002), by David Ropeik and George Gray at the Harvard Center for Risk Analysis. †† Neotame is not currently available in any product in the United States, but the manufacturer anticipates its use in chewing gum, drinks, tabletop sweeteners, desserts, and baked goods, among other foods. 
|
|
#3
07-18-2006, 11:47 PM
|
|||
|
|||
|
Quote:
I always say I'm going to try to cut them out for the most part.. then I realize 3/4 of my diet contains them and I just give up 
|
|
#4
07-19-2006, 02:33 AM
|
||||
|
||||
|
On one hand you have artificial sweeteners, which are one of the most researched and studied compounds available to consumers, and no major side effects of significence have been documented thus far.... On the other you have simple refined suger, which is linked to almost every chronic disease you can imagine (diabetes, obesity, nephritis, kidney disease, and a plethora of cardiac troubles). I think I'll use my nutrisweet and splenda
__________________
To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 2 or greater. You currently have 0 posts. Any information given by CoBra should not be misconstrued as medical advise. It is only a biased, rather uneducated, opinion and should be treated as such.
|
|
#5
07-21-2006, 07:16 AM
|
|||
|
|||
|
Quote:
|
|
#6
07-23-2006, 11:23 PM
|
|||
|
|||
|
Quote:
mmmmmmmmmm splenda.... Very good read Jerzey....
|
|
#8
07-24-2006, 09:13 PM
|
|||
|
|||
|
Thanks
 As much as I am a pervert, it actually is a motorcycle reference
|
|
#9
07-25-2006, 07:37 AM
|
|||
|
|||
|
Quote:
 I miss riding, but I'd never get another bike where I live now, people can't drive 
|
|
#10
07-27-2006, 11:45 PM
|
||||
|
||||
|
I try to stay away from all the artificial sweetners. I use Stevia, a natural sweetner available at any healthfood store. Or natural cane sugar. But I;m not much on sweet stuff anyways. I just use it in my coffee in the mornings.
If I want something sweet I go for the real thing anyway. Moderation is the key!
__________________
mod@e-steroids vet@osbb vet@hcm
|
|
#11
07-27-2006, 11:48 PM
|
|||
|
|||
|
Quote:
Believe me where I'm at it's really bad. I drove a car for the first time in weeks yesterday and got rear ended at a stop light...lady never even hit her brakes....thank god I chose last night not to ride.....
|
|
#12
07-28-2006, 01:25 PM
|
|||
|
|||
|
Quote:
|
|
#13
07-28-2006, 08:58 PM
|
|||
|
|||
|
Quote:
Naw...other side of the country.
|
|
| Thread Tools | |
| Display Modes | |
|
|
Linear Mode
