Even though there has always been a lot of controversy surrounding artificial sweeteners, a new joint statement issued by the American Heart Association and the American Diabetes Association speaks of the benefits of fake sugars.
Many people worry about the purported carcinogenic properties of certain sweeteners but they still could be better than regular sugar.
The chair of the group who made the joint statement said:
“When you use these non-nutritive sweeteners smartly, they will help you cut back on sugar and calories.”
When you use fake sugar your body tastes the sweet but gets no sugar rush so you get a craving for sugar later and “smartly” in the previous quote means not giving into those cravings.
So they found that several sweeteners, Acesulfame-K, Aspartame, Neotame, Saccharin, Sucralose and Stevia are actually good at controlling the blood sugar and weight of people, even diabetics.
The problem is they didn’t assess the safety of these compounds as they are all regulated by the FDA already.
So the cancer controversy still stands but that doesn’t mean that these sweeteners are without benefit.
[Image via Cookantean/Wikimedia Commons.]
