According to a new study, research is increasingly demonstrating what many natural health advocates and critics of artificial sweeteners have been saying for years. That sugar replacements like sucralose, aspartame, and saccharin are actually causing diabetes as opposed to preventing it.
While the medical industry continues to promote artificial sweeteners as a healthy alternative to sugar, and while major food corporations insert these alternatives into food products unnecessarily, research by Professor Jennifer Kuk of York University in Toronto suggests that artificial sweeteners may actually be responsible for increased levels of type 2 diabetes and that people who consume them may have worse glucose management.
Artificial sweeteners are used to replace sugar and the argument behind them centers around the fact that they are allegedly not digested by humans, but the recent study has demonstrated that the well-treaded claim of non-digestibility may not actually be true.
In reality, research is demonstrating that gut bacteria might be able to break down artificial sweeteners but as a result, gut bacteria becomes altered and thus, a trigger for diabetes. As Professor Kuk says, “our study shows individuals with obesity who consume artificial sweeteners, particularly aspartame, may have worse glucose management than those who don’t take sugar substitutes.”
To be clear, our industry’s products and their ingredients are safe. In fact, low-calorie sweeteners, including aspartame, are among the most tested and reviewed in our food supply today, with decades of science verifying their safety. This study does not prove otherwise, nor does it debunk other research that shows low-calorie sweeteners can help aid weight loss and management: http://bit.ly/Ik4zjC. It’s also important to note that complex health conditions such as diabetes are not uniquely caused by any one food, beverage or ingredient. To suggest so is alarmist and misleading.