Can Artificial Sweeteners Cause Stomach Problems – It’s no secret that most of us can down on sugar. In fact, according to the American Heart Association, American adults eat an average of 77 grams of sugar per day – more than three times the daily amount for women (about 25 grams more sugar).
If you are trying to reduce your sugar intake, sweets are a good idea. But it is not easy. Here’s what you need to know about how your body reacts to natural and artificial sugar.
Can Artificial Sweeteners Cause Stomach Problems
Sugar is found in foods such as fruit (fructose) and milk (lactose). Unlike the table sugar you add to your coffee, these sugars are naturally present in your food and do not need to be added.
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Currently, added sugars are natural sugars (white sugar, brown sugar, honey) or sweeteners (high-fructose corn syrup) that are added to foods or beverages during processing or preparation.
Whether it’s natural or processed, it adds more calories and less nutrients to your diet. If you’re overweight, all of these supplements can lead to weight gain and inflammation, putting you at risk for long-term health problems like diabetes, heart disease, high blood pressure and high cholesterol. . , says Brittany Poulson, RDN, attests. diabetes educator.
Unfortunately, most of our foods and drinks are full of added sugar. You can find them in things like soft drinks, baked goods and flavored milks, but beware: They can also hide in unexpected places, like soup, ketchup and bread.
Artificial sweeteners are artificial sugar substitutes. This is done especially for people with diabetes, and those who are concerned about their blood sugar levels for other health reasons, says Leah Kaufman, MS, RD, a certified diabetes educator in New York. City.
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Compared to refined and added sugars, low-calorie sweeteners – also known as sugar-free sweeteners. Common sweeteners include aspartame (brand names NutraSweet and Equal), saccharin (Sweet’N Low), sucralose (Splenda) and stevia (Truvia and PureVia).
Replacing sugary foods and drinks with sugary alternatives can reduce calories and reduce your risk of long-term health problems such as heart disease and diabetes. “Artificial sugar is a good option for diabetics to help reduce carbohydrate intake while still allowing them to sweeten food and drinks,” says Poulson.
Describing sugar as ‘natural’ versus ‘natural’ can be misleading, however, because the term ‘natural’ is not regulated by the FDA, according to Poulson. Some artificial flavors are made from natural substances. Stevia, for example, is a natural herbal sweetener, while sucralose is derived from sugar.
While your taste buds can’t tell the difference between natural and artificial sweeteners, your body can.
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For example, studies show that your brain isn’t fooled by artificial sweeteners: “Your brain doesn’t respond to artificial sugars like it would if you had a chocolate chip cookie or a piece of cake,” Kaufman said.
According to Kaufman, eating sugar activates your brain’s reward pathways, leading to the release of feel-good chemicals like dopamine. Artificial sweeteners, on the other hand, partially activate the pathways of the game. Reason? It gives us the sweet taste that our body needs, but not the calories (read: energy) that we need for life.
This means you won’t feel happy after eating a sugary cookie, which can lead to sugar cravings later, Kaufman said. The result: a higher risk of health issues. “Some observational studies have linked low-calorie sweeteners to weight gain, risk of Type 2 diabetes, and other cardiometabolic diseases,” said Poulson. However, the study cannot prove that low-calorie sweeteners are to blame, and more research is needed.
Natural sugar goes through digestive processes: It is broken down and absorbed in the stomach and small intestines before being released into the bloodstream. From there, sugar (in the form of glucose and/or fructose) is transported to the cells to be used for energy. “When our cells get the energy they need, the excess [sugar] is converted to glycogen in the liver and muscles,” says Poulson. Your body can draw from fuel stores when there is no fuel available.
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“Also, the liver uses fructose to make and store fat,” Poulson said. “When the liver doesn’t have room to store these sugars as fat, fat globules build up, causing ‘fatty liver,’ or non-alcoholic fatty liver disease.”
Meanwhile, some artificial sugar passes through our digestive system undigested, Poulson said. Sweets made with sugar syrups (you’ll find them on foods labeled ‘sugar-free’), in particular, are hard to digest and can cause issues like bloating, gas and diarrhea.
Whether you choose natural sweeteners or both, your best bet is to use less. Limit added sugar, even to no more than 100 calories (six tablespoons) per day for women and no more than 150 calories (9 tablespoons) for men.
If you’re craving something sweet, reach for sweet foods like fruit, which offer beneficial nutrients like vitamins, minerals and fiber, says Kaufman. Natural sweeteners tend to reduce sugar, he said.
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Instead of substituting sweetened soda for the ‘diet’ version, try sparkling water; add 100% fruit juice if you want it sweet. “That way, you get a shot without any additives or artificial sugar,” says Poulson.
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Lauren Bedosky Lauren is a fitness writer specializing in covering the topics of performance and strength training. She has written for several national publications, including People’s Health, Runner’s World, SHAPE and Running Women. She lives in Brooklyn Park, Minnesota, with her husband and their three dogs. Sweeteners have long been a “healthy” substitute for sugar. Millions of consumers follow the ritual and sprinkle pink, yellow or blue bags in their coffee every day. Even millions more, unknowingly eat chemical compounds in sweets. But, how safe are these chemicals? And are there any sweet side effects you should know about?
Artificial sweeteners are common sugar substitutes used to sweeten foods without adding calories. Because it is sweeter than sugar, it takes fewer artificial calories, and fewer calories to achieve the same taste.
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The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved six different flavors for use as food additives in the United States and regulates their use in foods and beverages, such as soda, salad dressing, granolas and milk. .
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Saccharin paves the way for all other sweets. Constantin Fahlberg, a professor of chemistry at Johns Hopkins University, discovered it by accident in 1879. It is said that he noticed how sweet it was after a day of researching coal. He rushed to the lab to describe everything he could find (defying simple lab safety rules) and ended up linking the sweet taste to a chemical compound called benzoic sulfamide.[2].
Fahlberg quickly recognized the power of a sweet, non-nutritive substance on the body and quickly made suggestions.
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Saccharin hit the shelves as a diabetes drug and remained until the sugar shortages of World War I and World War II made food plentiful. To recover the economy and make sugar cheap, saccharin needed a new angle. Instead of marketing saccharin as a cheap alternative to sugar, it is advertised as a zero-calorie sweetener.
There is a profitable market for food products, with manufacturers targeting women with aggressive advertising. Kirsch, the creator of No-Cal Ginger Ale, used a cute cartoon of a woman who can’t get her button down next to the label “Time to switch to No-Cal: she’s not really fat.”
When saccharin was so successful, customers complained about the metallic taste. Fortunately for the sweetener industry, the FDA only approved a new chemical in 1958. A chemistry student at the University of Illinois discovered the compound, known as cyclamate, when he discovered the taste in his dirty cigarettes.
Cyclamate has a sweet taste that hides the previous bitterness and can be a dessert on the “Sweet N’ Low” table. The discovery of alternative sweeteners in the second half of the 20th century, combined with rising obesity levels, fueled the food industry. Today’s products are labeled “No sugar!” and “Weight Gain” flew off the shelves without hesitation.
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But has the FDA declared artificial sweeteners safe without knowing the long-term side effects? The answer is yes.
Concern arose in 1969 when the FDA banned cyclamate (Sweet N’ Low) from all US foods in response to studies showing cancer in laboratory rats. [3, 4] The FDA decision is more
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