Years ago, I remember sitting in science class while my science teacher warned the class about the dangers of developing cancer from artificial sweeteners .Since that time I’ve been very cautious about the amount of chemical alternatives I consume. In spite of this claim, however, chemical sweeteners are still very popular on the shelves of American markets. Is the notion that a chemical sweetener causes cancer just an urban myth? If these products really ARE harmful, why should these companies continue to be allowed to endorse them?
According to the Food and Drug Administration, there are currently five approved artificial sweeteners on the market: aspartame, saccharin, acesulfame-K, neotame, and sucralose. Aspartame (Equal) and saccharin (Sweet’n’Low) are probably the most common as they are usually found in soft drinks. These two alternatives are followed closely by the increasingly popular sucralose (Splenda). Acesulfame-K is usually found in sugar free types of breath mints and gum. Neotame has only recently been added to the list as it was approved by the FDA in 2002.Now that we have identified the suspects, time to answer the lingering question: just how safe are these products to humans?
Repeated studies by the National Cancer Institute have found that while there may be links between certain sweeteners and bladder cancer in lab rats, there is no clear evidence to suggest this occurrence in humans.
The Mayo Clinic, however, appears to acknowledge that the chemicals may possibly pose health hazards. They recommend the following safety guidelines, or ADIs (acceptable daily intake) for artificial sweeteners
:
Artificial sweetener
ADI*
Estimated ADI equivalent**
OK for cooking?
Aspartame (NutraSweet, Equal)
50 milligrams (mg) per kilogram (kg)
18 to 19 cans of diet cola
No
Saccharin (Sweet’N Low, SugarTwin)
5 mg per kg
9 to 12 packets of sweetener
Yes
Acesulfame K (Sunett, Sweet One)
15 mg per kg
30 to 32 cans of diet lemon-lime soda***
Yes
Sucralose (Splenda)
5 mg per kg
6 cans of diet cola***
Yes
Neotame
18 mg a day
No consumer products available yet in the U.S.
Yes
The amounts presented here are fairly conservative. Clearly, the data suggests that one must be a heavy consumer of these products in order to be concerned.
So what’s the verdict?
For now, it’s clearly the case of buyer’s choice: are natural sweeteners such as brown sugar, honey, and stevia extract preferable to chemical alternatives?
One other thing to consider using soft drinks as an example: the amount of sugar found in popular soft drinks is an average of 30 grams per serving (8 fluid oz.). That’s roughly 9% of your total daily sugar intake based on a 2,000 calorie diet. That doesn’t sound so bad until you consider that the average bottled drink contains 20 fluid oz. or more. If you consume 2 20 oz. bottles a day, that’s a whopping 54% of your total daily value! Obviously, eliminating those types of drinks from your diet would drastically decrease the amount of your total sugar intake.
Chemically doctored products do not sound like the best options for cutting sugar and calories from your diet. If consumed in moderation, however, they certainly provide a better alternative for hardcore soft drink consumers.If instead you want to bust them from your diet all together, I would suggest doing what I did: start with diet drinks and avoid the original versions containing sugar. Then find alternatives, such as water, tea, seltzers, and fruit juice. The more you start to choose these, the less you will crave the soft drinks. Eventually, you won’t even miss them. Of course, not unlike an alcoholic, if you start drinking soft drinks of any kind again, it’s difficult to stop.
