WHO advises not to use non-sugar sweeteners for weight control in newly released guideline

[brooklynite]

Source: World Health Organization

The World Health Organization (WHO) has released a new guideline on non-sugar sweeteners (NSS), which recommends against the use of NSS to control body weight or reduce the risk of noncommunicable diseases (NCDs).

The recommendation is based on the findings of a systematic review of the available evidence which suggests that use of NSS does not confer any long-term benefit in reducing body fat in adults or children. Results of the review also suggest that there may be potential undesirable effects from long-term use of NSS, such as an increased risk of type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular diseases, and mortality in adults.

"Replacing free sugars with NSS does not help with weight control in the long term. People need to consider other ways to reduce free sugars intake, such as consuming food with naturally occurring sugars, like fruit, or unsweetened food and beverages,” says Francesco Branca, WHO Director for Nutrition and Food Safety. "NSS are not essential dietary factors and have no nutritional value. People should reduce the sweetness of the diet altogether, starting early in life, to improve their health."

The recommendation applies to all people except individuals with pre-existing diabetes and includes all synthetic and naturally occurring or modified non-nutritive sweeteners that are not classified as sugars found in manufactured foods and beverages, or sold on their own to be added to foods and beverages by consumers. Common NSS include acesulfame K, aspartame, advantame, cyclamates, neotame, saccharin, sucralose, stevia and stevia derivatives.

Read more: https://www.who.int/news/item/15-05-2023-who-advises-not-to-use-non-sugar-sweeteners-for-weight-control-in-newly-released-guideline

[bucolic_frolic]

1. Someone told me that 25 years ago

NSS make you put on more weight. He said it tricks the brain. Don't know if that's true but he sure had the visible evidence.

[Marthe48]

3. I read that your body reacts to artificial sweeteners the same as sugar

So if you drink diet soda, you get a blood sugar glucose spike.

But, a question: Do artifical sugars rot your teeth?

[Qutzupalotl]

10. I think they should not rot your teeth.

My dentist recommended Sorbitol gum and Xylitol mints to use when brushing isn't possible.

[Haggis 4 Breakfast]

25. Just a quick note

Xylitol is TOXIC to dogs. So, keep your gum and mints away from Fluffy.

[NullTuples]

17. Genetics, calcium, vitamin D and oral hygiene prevent cavities. But worse, soda is an acid.

Fruit has sugar. When starch gets broken down by your saliva in your mouth? It's turned into sugars. Sugars just feed bacteria which then attack your teeth.

Carbonated drink's biggest problem is that it is essentially flavored carbonic acid that etches teeth enamel directly, not the sugar that feeds bacteria if they exist in sufficient numbers (see oral hygiene, calcium, vit-D, etc)

Put an egg in a glass of carbonated water for a day or two and the shell will be dissolved. [update: 3-5 days to dissolve completely)

Fun photo log of the experiment: https://coffeecupscience.net/eggsandsoftdrink/

[Marthe48]

18. Thanks for that info

I have a can of diet soda nearly every day. Maybe it's a blessing in disguise that it is hard to get.

[kimbutgar]

2. My older sister always used those artificial sweetness and now has diabetes and drank soft

Drinks all the time. No one else in our family had diabetes. I stopped drinking sodas in 2000 and never used the artificial sweeteners. Our grandfather loved putting sugar on his food and lived to 90 unfortunately he liked to smoke cigarettes and died from lung cancer.

[harun]

4. Excellent news.

[PennyC]

5. i tried to understand this report

Let me say I follow a low-carb diet and I do use a few different kinds of fake sugar. I looked through the info from WHO and didn't see anything that explained why they made this recommendation. So I'm not changing what I do at this point.
In general, you usually find that the sugar industry funds these things.

[SunSeeker]

9. That's what I was wondering.

People who drink diet soda tend to also eat high calorie foods, especially sweets. Eating sweets could be the cause of the diabetes. Kinda not clear what the causation is.

Do you have normal blood sugar (no diabetes)?

[PennyC]

12. Yes I have normal blood sugar

Last annual, my doctor told me she had never seen numbers as low as mine before. I never consume anything with sugar and I don't eat junk carbs. I make just about everything from scratch (this morning I mixed up some 'honey mustard' to use on tonight's salmon.

[SunSeeker]

21. Do you drink diet sodas or just consume artificial sweeteners in food? nt

[PennyC]

23. Both...

I have one glass of diet ginger ale a day, but I also have plenty of sucralose-sweetened coffee. I also add a bit of sweetener to dishes that would normally require a touch of sugar. And I make ice cream and yogurt popsicles.
I use sucralose, erythritol, allulose, and some monk fruit.

[sybylla]

22. Exactly. And it's not just the WHO who rarely have studies to back up these claims.

I like science. From supposedly science based organizations.

The way they have conducted themselves over the pandemic, I don't trust much from the WHO, the CDC, and the NIH unless I can see a study or series of studies to back this up.

I also do low carb. I know what sugars and simple carbs do to my body and brain. I'll stay low carb as long as I can. Largely eliminating sugars from my diet means I know the difference in the impact on my body between regular sugar (fruit and veg derived) and sugar alcohols and other naturally derived sweeteners. The fact that my daily life isn't ruled by carb/sugar cravings all effing day long is reason number 1 of about a dozen.

[multigraincracker]

6. Look at tRump to see how

Diet Coke works.

[radical noodle]

16. That's not Diet Coke

That's a multitude of junk food and the very best chocolate cakes.

[multigraincracker]

19. I think the study pointed the finger at

diet sweeteners causing hunger for junk food.

[radical noodle]

20. I didn't see that in the article...

but I've heard rumors about that elsewhere. I don't know if that's substantiated by facts and statistics. I only know it hasn't worked that way for me.

Either way, trump would be disgusting with or without Diet Coke.

[Richard D]

7. I have to wonder . . .

. . . I have to wonder . . . the anti-vaxxers consider the WHO to be an evil organization. Will this article lead to anti-vaxxers consuming vast quantities of artificial sweeteners?

[toroyoung]

8. it's linked to cancer too

No good.

[CousinIT]

11. Stevia isn't but aspartame is, I believe. n/t

[highplainsdem]

13. Two articles on the harm they can do:

https://www.abc.net.au/news/science/2022-08-20/sugar-sweeteners-microbiome-glucose-sucralose-saccharine/101343780

https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/artificial-sweeteners-may-change-our-gut-bacteria-in-dangerous-ways/

You can find a lot more info online.

[PennyC]

14. Sugar is cancer's favorite food

N/T

[SouthernDem4ever]

15. Guess I'll just stay fat

LOL

[Chrysanthemum]

24. I wonder what they think is wrong with stevia?

As far as I know, stevia is an herb which functions as an adaptogen, helping raise blood sugar for those with hypoglycemia as well as helping to lower blood sugar for those with hyperglycemia.

It's also many times sweeter than sugar, and has no aftertaste.

Does anyone know of documented problems with stevia?

[ArkansasDemocrat1]

26. I can't use Stevia

It tastes like cilantro flavored licorice to me.

[ExWhoDoesntCare]

27. Stevia can have a terrible aftertaste

If it isn't processed properly. Some of the "cheap" stevia brands have a decided bitter taste to them, while others don't.

Some studies have shown a connection between stevia and reproductive health issues, particularly infertility. My source for that is from a database not accessible to the general public. I'll have to look up the title and journal it came from, if anyone wants the reference. I'm post-menopausal and had a hysterectomy, so no need to care if that's a side effect of stevia.

Diabetes runs in my family, regardless of dietary influence. The female lineage from great-nan through to me were never much on sweets, and yet all of us = diabetic. We know it's almost entirely genetic because my great-nan and nan were literally too poor to afford sugar for most of their lives, but still wound up diabetic. Go figure.

The best indicator of who in the family overdid the sweets is the age when they get their diagnosis. Those who were sweets junkies? 30-40 was when the diagnosis came down. The rest of us who had more moderate or no sweets consumption? Late 50s and even into our 60s. That metric doesn't apply to all diabetic family members, but it does for most of them.

I don't use most of the artificial sweeteners, because they are murder on my digestive system. I can handle erithrytol, stevia and monkfruit, but I don't consume any of it to excess. A bit in my morning cuppa, maybe some monkfruit sprinkled over non-dairy unsweetened yogurt in the morning, a stevia-sweetened soda or juice later in the day, and that's about it. Like I said, I'm not much for sweets.