Dangers of Artificial Sweeteners: Are Artificial Sweeteners Making You Fat?
Don’t Let The Labels Fool You
With lifestyle problems like diabetes and obesity making waves in developed countries, super-market shelves are brimming with “sugar free” and “low fat” ice creams, cookies, cakes, candies and even chewing gum. For those who are not aware, these seemingly blissful labels can be rather misleading.
A research conducted at Purdue University in 2008 suggests that people who substitute natural sugar for artificial ones end up consuming more calories through fat. According to scientists, the brain associates sweet tasting foods with calories and regulates the intake accordingly. Artificial sweeteners disrupt the brain’s messaging system and the body tends to compensate the lack of calories through fat intake.
More than any physiological phenomenon, labels like “sugar free” and “low calorie” play up on consumers’ psychology. Consumers might treat themselves to a complete tub of “diet” ice cream believing it to be “sugar free”. Though the sugar is replaced with artificial sweeteners (which might be synthetic compounds or organic sugar derivatives), the “cream” is very much there. Even if the label says “low fat”, it is still a far call from “no fat”. Artificially sweetened products may have lower calorie content per unit than their regular counterparts, but they may cause some individuals to overeat. Similarly, fruit juices with “no added sugar” will still have calories from the natural fruit sugars (or fructose). Although fruit juices are healthier than carbonated drinks, they can be equally fattening if consumed in enormous quantities.
It is good to use artificial sweeteners to lower the calorie content of carbonated drinks, desserts, beverages and sweets but one must exercise caution regarding calorie intake from other sources like carbohydrates and fats.
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Don’t let labels lead you astray- keep yourself well informed about the choices made available to you.
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Check out the detailed nutritional chart of a food product instead of pacifying yourself with superficial labels.
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Does the product contain a large percentage of fat? A cream roll, sugar-free or otherwise, is still going to end up on your butt.
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What is the exact difference in calorie content of a diet product as compared to its regular version? Having two “sugar free” cookies may be equivalent to a single regular one.
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Have you been increasing portion sizes just because you think you can afford to eat more since the product is sugar free?
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Does switching over to sugar-free foods significantly affect your cumulative calorie intake through the day?
In reality, sugars form a reasonably small percentage of our daily calorie intake and these mostly come from sodas, beverages and desserts (none of which are absolutely essential parts of a diet). A large percentage of calories come from rich gravies, butter, cheese, red meat, fried foods like chips and fritters, mayonnaise, high-carb foods like white bread, pasta and potatoes etc. It would perhaps be a wiser choice to adopt a holistic approach to diet instead of cutting down solely on sugar intake.
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