Artificial Sweetener: Worse?

[dragon_mando]

From what I understand, Stevia is actually more natural than cane sugar bought in the supermarket because you can actually buy the stevia plant, pop off a leave, and dip the leaf in your tea, but I might be thinking about something else.

[skinst]

Aspartame Controversies - take it as you will.

 

Me personally? I wouldn't touch the stuff.

[Kaoto_Susanao235]

Honestly I can't stand artificial sweeteners.

As a woman raised on Regular Pepsi and copious amounts of Cane Sugar Sweetened Coffee Splenda just don't cut it.

 

I know I am in 'bad health habits' by drinking/eating down so much sugar... but my motto is 'Why live life if you can't enjoy it?'

[Sourwhatup]

I never really liked artificial sweeteners, nor will I ever, they taste horrible, and I think the whole 0 calories thing is just for the company that makes it to get some money.

 

Everything is business nowadays, and most corporations wouldn't or don't give a crap about people and their health.

 

Plus isn't natural things supposed to be better then stuff created in labs?

Edited November 5, 2011 by Sourwhatup

[MathiasTolerain]

Plus isn't natural things supposed to be better then stuff created in labs?

SOMETIMES but not always. One needs to be careful with this sort of broad judgement.

 

One of the deadliest toxins known to man Botulinum Toxin is no more "artificial" than fluffiness in your bread or the fizz in your champagne. Contrast this with the chemical vitamins in many supplements and any assorted lab-made anti-biotics.

 

There is a really hilarious commercial here in the US put out by the corn growers defending High Fructose Corn Syrup. What's funny is they use the argument "your body doesn't know where the sugar came from," which is quite probably fact, except that's not the argument against High Fructose Corn Syrup. The argument I hear is that it is detrimental because it is added to EVERYTHING, not that it comes from corn.

 

Counter-argument FAIL .

[rainbowsmile]

Artificial sweetener is not something that your body is able to digest. Besides, I can't stand the aftertaste, I really don't see how anyone can.

 

As far as high fructose corn syrup, sure, you're body may not know if it comes from sugar or corn. That means it is just as harmful as sugar if not used in moderation. That doesn't mean it's safe to drink/eat as much as you want.

[HawktalonOfRiverClan]

Eat salt. You just ate chlorine. Mixed with salt. AKA NaCl. It's totally okay to eat any element if it's not in a dangerous form.

I knew that, but that's a natural ionic bond. Splenda isn't.

[miladyz]

A lot of people I know swear by diet this and sugar-free that, but the aftertaste makes me cringe.

I've never understood how people think that it tastes the same as real sugar.

Edited November 7, 2011 by miladyz

[DustyBelle]

Good clean water which is cold and clear is amazingly refreshing. Any thing with a high sugar count be it from sugar, honey, caro strup, corn syrup or whatever is bad for you. Too much of anything is bad for you except maybe water and probably that is also better for you in less than overwhelming amounts.

 

Articial sweetners were invented for people who can't have (as in it is bad for them) real sweeteners like honey and sugar. Diabetics aren't encouraged to consume honey any more than any other sugary sweet substance. Diet soft drinks are not meant to be consumed in large amounts. If you overindulge in any item you might be flirting with getting/developing a disease/illness due to that bad behavior.

 

For kids and adults who really shouldn't be eating the regular high calorie sweetner, artificial sweetner in low to moderate amounts are a boon. For those who have been brought up on them for whatever reason they are the taste that is right. For those of use who started with sugar or honey than that usually tastes right.

 

Let the diabetics have their artificial sweetner. There are so many things they shouldn't consume let them have moderate amounts of the stuff you don't like or despise.

 

Remember to drink your water from the ta[\p and not a bottle as the plastic jugs and bottles are overwhelming the earth in a not good way. So bottled water is not the answer to canned sodas. Recycle whatever you drink.

 

The medical authorities change their opinions on what is good and bad and disease producing in the artificial sweetner world every so often, just in case you are not old enough to know/ remember the long list of goods and bads that jump from one side of the line to the other and back over time.

[demonicvampiregirl]

Only time I like Sweetner is in tea because I made the switch over from normal tea to that and now I can't stand the taste of normal tea.

[edwardelricfreak]

Good clean water which is cold and clear is amazingly refreshing.  Any thing with a high sugar count be it from sugar, honey, caro strup,  corn syrup or whatever is bad for you.  Too much of anything is bad for you except maybe water and probably that is also better for you in less than overwhelming amounts.

 

Remember to drink your water from the ta[\p and not a bottle as the plastic jugs and bottles are overwhelming the earth in a not good way.  So bottled water is not the answer to canned sodas.  Recycle whatever you drink.

Even too much water can be bad for you. It's hard to have too much water, but it's possible. That's what water poisoning is and it's not very pretty...

 

Also it's best to have filtered tap water, I believe. Some areas don't have clean water. Sometimes it seems clean, but things like fracking lead to the water being unsafe to consume. Bottled water is better in that case, but only when it's from a spring or has been purified. If you check the source and it says "municipal water" only then it's basically regular tap water, iirc.

 

~~~~~~

 

As for artificial sweeteners, I think I read somewhere that part of the reason why they lead to more weight gain is that since they're sweet but not actually from real sugar/honey, your body doesn't get the actual energy boost it's expecting so it wants more of it so it can get that energy. Basically you eat/drink more after tricking your body like that. So yes, your body DOES know the difference between the artificial sweeteners and real sugar, in that case. Course I read this a while back and I'm fuzzy on details so I could be partially or completely wrong.

 

While it's fine to have artificial things (like antibiotics, etc), I don't think it's alright for a food or drink to be filled with a bunch of artificial things like sweeteners. But like anything else, so long as it's in moderation, I doubt it's going to be too harmful to your body anyway. So sure, if you like the flavor more, drink it. But I don't think any soda should be consumed more than another, though if you have to have one I'd suggest pure cane soda. IMO it has a much fuller flavor and actually satisfies the sweet tooth.

 

I actually don't like tea. I feel like I should try more kinds of tea, but I only really like lemon iced tea, especially if it's mixed with lemonade. But I usually drink water, anyway, so meh.

[gyiyg]

I really don't like artificial sweeteners mostly because of the terrible aftertaste and because if drinks don't taste a certain way I just... I can't drink them. Sensory issues I guess. They just don't go down right. I pretty much can't even swallow tap water properly most of the time, it's nasty and too flat and never seems to get cold enough and eeughh, but I mean at least it doesn't last as long in my mouth as diet stuff does. :L

I don't really care about calories, I'm pretty much stuck permanently at borderline underweight no matter what I do due to my metabolism and also my most prominent stim is basically dashing back and forth at random intervals so I'd much rather just drink regular soda anyhow... That and cranberry juice are the only things that routinely go down right and aren't off-putting :V

[rumor33]

Articial sweetners were invented for people who can't have (as in it is bad for them) real sweeteners like honey and sugar. Diabetics aren't encouraged to consume honey any more than any other sugary sweet substance. Diet soft drinks are not meant to be consumed in large amounts. If you overindulge in any item you might be flirting with getting/developing a disease/illness due to that bad behavior.

 

Just one point of clarification, the original couple sweeteners weren't really invented, they were discovered by accident through some pretty unsafe chemistry practices.

 

Sometimes I use Spenda because I really do prefer to use one that is derived from sugar and not some random chemical that we only know is sweet because some guy licked his fingers in the lab. Plus I like its taste a lot better than the others.

[lightbird]

There seems to be a lot of rave about stevia lately, and it's supposedly a relatively safe sweetener. One of my coworkers has sucrose intolerance (basically, she can't digest sugar due to lacking sucrase-isomaltase, the enzyme that cleaves the bond between glucose and fructose in the sucrose dimer) and uses stevia. She has confirmed that it's extremely sweet. :U

Edited March 17, 2014 by lightbird

[Charity322]

I wish people wouldn't say 'just drink water'. I can't stand the taste of water. I can't drink more than half a glass without feeling nauseous. Everyone says that it has no taste, but that's not true for me. So, drinking water is not the magic fix all.

 

Diet sodas don't taste as good as the real thing to me, but I lost weight when I switched to them, so ...

[Annatjie]

I don't know, probably unpopular opinion at this point, but I kind of prefer Diet Coke/Coke Zero and Pepsi Max over normal Coke and Pepsi. I don't taste any aftertaste anymore, in fact normal Coke and Pepsi are too sweet to me.

 

I like Splenda (my mum's a doctor and she says it's one of the more okay artificial sweeteners), but I can't stand stevia - I just don't like the taste, there's something off about it to me I don't use either when I bake though, I just go with brown sugar for that...

[lightbird]

I wish people wouldn't say 'just drink water'. I can't stand the taste of water. I can't drink more than half a glass without feeling nauseous. Everyone says that it has no taste, but that's not true for me. So, drinking water is not the magic fix all.

Water does have taste depending on where it comes from, mineral content etc. In my apartment building water tastes nasty (lots of iron due to old, probably rusty, tubes, I live in an old building), so I mainly buy bottled water, and I also like to experiment with mineral content.

 

Speaking of which - I still haven't tried the distilled/deionized water from the millipore. Gotta try. /scientist

 

 

I can't stand diet sodas, because they make me hungry and cause headaches, unless I'm eating something while drinking them on the side. Sugary sodas are the only way to go for me, and I drink soda through a straw so that it goes straight to my throat and doesn't swish the sugar and acid around my teeth.

Edited March 17, 2014 by lightbird

[TheDarkCynder]

Whoa, what a necro. This thread is from '11.

 

Anyway, I don't drink soda or coffee anymore except as a treat once in awhile, but I'm not against artificial sweeteners. I don't see enough solid evidence to really call them worse than added sugar.

 

I drink carbonated water with a bit of lemon juice added now. It's great for people who don't like how water tastes, and it's healthy.

[KoalaNoob]

I wish people wouldn't say 'just drink water'. I can't stand the taste of water. I can't drink more than half a glass without feeling nauseous. Everyone says that it has no taste, but that's not true for me. So, drinking water is not the magic fix all.

 

Diet sodas don't taste as good as the real thing to me, but I lost weight when I switched to them, so ...

THANK YOU! I can't stand the way most water tastes either- it makes me want to barf. Actually, the only liquid that doesn't make me feel sick is fresh, homemade fruit juice (squeezing oranges, stuffing apples into a grinder, etc). I'm finding that tap water is a little better, but I have no idea why.