Why you should avoid soft drinks, dairy products with artificial sweeteners?

Why you should avoid all products with artificial sweeteners?

Unleashing the Hazards of Artificial Sweeteners

Soft drinks fall under the category of non-alcoholic beverages, consisting of water, artificial sweetener, and artificial flavors. These are pretty common for worldwide consumption.

On the other hand, dairy products are by-products of milk, but may also contain artificial sweeteners. According to the world population review, older adults consume more milk than younger adults.

Globally, the United States is the country to consume more soft drinks than any other, with a statistic of $111.30 revenue generation per person in 2022, according to Statista. Average volume consumption accounts for about 45.11L per person in 2022.

An article published in BMJ claims that globally artificial sweeteners hold a market of $700M with 5% annual growth.

Appalling Drawbacks of the Artificial Sweeteners

We can’t ignore the fact that these sweeteners are affecting our health. Soft drinks and dairy products bring a number of health risks through these artificial sweeteners.

Health-conscious people opt for these diet products to avoid high sugar level spikes in their blood. However, a new study conducted by the French National Institute for Health claims that these artificial sweeteners are not a safe alternative to sugar.

The recent research has pretty much summed up the health risks hidden in a single can of diet soft drink. It was found that it contains 140mg of artificial sweetener while 77.6mg of artificial sweetener consumption per day is the average of a heavy consumer of soft drinks.

The study was conducted on 130,000 French citizens and one-third of the population who consume artificial sweeteners like Aspartame, Sucralose, and Acesulfame potassium. These consumers also had a 10% higher risk of getting heart disease than low artificial sweetener consumers.

Risk of Cardiovascular Diseases

According to the WHO 2022 report, these artificial sweeteners disrupt the ratio of good cholesterol (HDL) to bad cholesterol (LDL) resulting in an increased rate of heart diseases and high blood pressure. Similarly, the rate of stroke was 30% higher in high consumers than in low consumers of artificial sweeteners.

A study conducted by Israeli researchers on 120 participants, also claims that artificial sweeteners may hinder your normal metabolism of glucose plus it causes some unwanted changes in your gut Flora which leads to disrupted metabolism and elevated chances of diabetes. Therefore, they asked the consumers to consume artificial sweeteners in the prescribed quantity approved by FDA (USA) per day.

Metabolism Gets Affected

Researchers have observed that the artificial sweeteners added in different processed products cause unwanted changes in the gut microflora of consumers.

These changes might create a disruption in your metabolism.

Aspartame is a sugar converted to formaldehyde at higher temperatures, which further converts to formic acid causing metabolic acidosis. The use of artificial sweeteners in dietary baked goods is banned by the EU

Cognitive Disorders

The prolonged consumption of artificial sweeteners can increase your sugar cravings as it puzzles your brain because of the fewer calories. It also increases the chances of migraines, depression, and other cognitive disorders.

Final Word

Scientists are still re-evaluating the health-to-risk ratios of artificial sweeteners but past research showed that the disadvantages really outweighed the benefits.

References

1. https://www.bmj.com/content/378/bmj-2022-071204
2. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3198517/
3. https://worldpopulationreview.com/country-rankings/milk-consumption-by-country
4. https://www.nbcnews.com/health/health-news/artificial-sweeteners-health-risks-heart-disease-blood-sugar-rcna46717
5. https://www.statista.com/study/48826/dairy-products-and-eggs-report/
6. https://www.statista.com/outlook/cmo/non-alcoholic-drinks/soft-drinks/worldwide