Artificial Sweeteners 101

In an attempt to be healthy, many Americans replace the sugar in their coffees and desserts with artificial sweeteners. Unfortunately, recent research discovered that artificial sweeteners are just as bad - if not worse - than actual sugar. Some possible health effects related to an intake of  excessive sweeteners are weight gain, mutated cells, and damage to the body’s natural response to glucose.Do you know how much sugar we consume every year? The number is sure to knock you off of your feet. 80 pounds per year. Yep, we aren’t lying. Each and every one of us consumes about this much sugar per year. This includes natural sugar and artificial sweeteners. This number is higher than any other country in the world.Don’t get us wrong though, sugar needs to be a part of our diets. Glucose is the type of sugar that our body uses as an energy source. It is also known as blood sugar. This type of sugar, in extreme amounts, is what causes diabetes to develop. Fructose is the natural sugar found in fruits. Though it is found in healthy foods, an excessive level of consumption will create fat cells.Americans are stereotyped as fat for a reason. They were the first to develop artificial sweeteners. This was in an attempt to eat tasty foods that didn’t appear to cause weight gain. Some of these products include NutraSweet, Splenda and Sweet One, all of which were approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). For the first five years after the inception of artificial sweeteners in 2000, nearly 4,000 food products were made with this new creation. Americans use more artificial sweeteners than any other country and we’re also fatter and more prone to diabetes. Is it possible there is a correlation?Yes, there is a direct correlation. We tend to eat artificial sweeteners in larger quantities because our bodies aren’t properly signaled when we consume them. Our body’s have a learned response to glucose that isn’t found when we ingest non-caloric foods. This leads us to remain hungry and eat more. The excessive weight gain then leads to diabetes.An experimental study tested the effects of artificial sweeteners on mice. They fed the mice three different types of sweeteners: aspartame, acesulfame-K and saccharin. The researchers found that the DNA of the mice was breaking apart. The acesulfame-K was found to do more damage than the other sweeteners that were tested.Of course, we all like to enjoy sweets every once in a while. There is still a way to enjoy the foods you love without suffering from damaging consequences. Xylitol is a type of sugar substitute that comes from birch. It can be used in replace of granulated sugar for a similar taste. It was also found to have a normalizing effect on a person’s blood sugar level.It’s important that you are eating the right foods and avoiding unnecessary junk foods. Eating too much of the wrong sugar could lead to weight gain and an increased risk of developing cancer. Stay on top of your health by receiving annual diagnostic scans with the help of the experts in radiology Las Vegas residents trust. Steinberg Diagnostic has a helpful and friendly staff to provide quality care. There even have seven convenient locations throughout the Las Vegas valley. For more information about desert radiology Las Vegas, contact 702.732.6000.