If you are anything like
me … then you probably consume your fair share of artificial sweeteners. However
… for as long as I can remember … there have those who are skeptical about
their safety. This issue has even been addressed in a recent book by a U-S-C
professor who states that many fears about synthetic sugars are cultural in
nature and not necessarily based on scientific fact. Let’s take a closer look
at some of these controversial ingredients.
Saccharin … which is
the active ingredient in Sweet-n-Low has actually been around for over one
hundred years and it’s popularity blossomed in the nineteen fifties. Then in
nineteen seventy five … a Canadian study infamously linked saccharin to bladder
cancer in rats that consumed the equivalent of eight hundred cans of diet soda
per day. However … in two thousand … the
data was found to be faulty and the F-D-A removed cancer warning from products
containing saccharin.
Equal … also known as
Nutra-Sweet … and its active ingredient aspartame have also had their share of
controversy with two studies linking the sweetener to brain cancer. However …
another analysis in two thousand six which followed nearly a half million
people found no evidence of canacer risk for the popular ingredient in diet
Coke and diet Pepsi. The F-D-A has established a maximum daily dose of
aspartame that equals about twenty cans of diet soda or 100 packets of Equal.
Another popular
sweetener … Splenda … which is also known as sucralose has gained a significant
amount of popularity since it was first introduced in nineteen ninety eight.
The biggest advantage of Splenda is it can be used in baked goods without
losing its sweetness. While Splenda it not linked to cancer … it did come under
fire for what some claim as false marketing about its chemical structure.
Personally … I think all
of the artificial sweeteners taste pretty good and like most things in life …
if you consume them in moderation … there is little evidence of any negative
effect on your health.
