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Artificial Sweeteners Make You Fat
| August 2, 2010 | |
| Dr. Gary Huber : Head Medical Ego |
There is no way to sugar coat it. Who drinks diet soda pop? Big people. What does diet soda pop do? Makes big people bigger. The studies show this to be true. If you’re clinging to diet sodas to help you lose weight then you are on the deck of the Titanic arranging deck chairs. That ship is going down and you’re wasting time with bad ideas.
The cold hard facts are that artificial sweeteners come in two types: really bad ones that cause cancer and sleep disturbance, and the not so bad ones that only cause weight gain.Â
So what’s the answer? Address the real problem.Â
Why do you require so much sweet taste in your foods? Let’s go back in time and really think about what is was like to live just 100 years ago. What foods existed back in 1910?Â
High fructose corn syrup hadn’t been invented yet. Artificial sweeteners didn’t exist. Real sweeteners like actual sugar barely existed and were rarely used.Â
So what did they eat? Real food. The sweetest thing to cross their palate was some nice fruit with natural sugars. There was no obesity at that time. They moved their bodies and they ate whole foods. Gee, how could they have survived?
Many of us drop our jaw and gasp with absolute disbelief when the idea is shared that perhaps we eat too much sugar and require just a tad too much sweetener in our world.
Let’s ponder this. When did obesity and diabetes and hypertension and heart disease become household words?
Are you aware of what an EKG is? It’s a device that looks at your hearts electrical activity and shows if there are signs of a heart attack. Did you know that the doctor that invented the first EKG machine, Dr Paul Dudley White, was laughed at?Â
Dr. White invented the EKG machine to detect heart disease back in 1920 at Harvard University and was laughed at by his peers because you had to search three counties high and low to find ONE person with coronary disease back then. Dr. White was told to “engage in more productive pursuits” and stop wasting time in this EKG technology.Â
Obesity and heart disease hadn’t been invented yet. Perhaps Dr. White was psychic and he foresaw a world full of high fructose corn syrup, processed food, sugary treats and endless sweets.Â
Aspartame, often sold as NutraSweet, is one of the worst chemicals ever devised and its acceptance by the FDA is riddled with controversy and corruption.Â
It causes brain cancer and other disease when consumed and yet I see people every day that just can’t get enough. It is the sweetener in Diet Coke.Â
By the way, my personal pole shows that Diet Coke is blowing Diet Pepsi out of the water in sales. So the race to gain weight is clearly being won by Diet Coke.
Other sweeteners such as the much maligned saccharine, is far less toxic than first believed. Sucrolose is still a concern and being followed closely as it too was quickly passed by the FDA before adequate testing could be completed. But despite what short comings these chemicals may have in their ability to cause other disease the basic premise still exists that ALL ARTIFICIAL SWEETENERS lead to weight gain.
A study in 2008 at Purdue University (as well as others) have shown that despite our lack of understanding of the exact mechanism it appears that the consumption of artificial sweeteners sets a series of chemical and hormonal signals into play. The body receives a sweet signal that calories are on the way and then is fooled when the calories don’t arrive.Â
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[8 Comments] [8 Comments]
This is junk science, by the way. I am surprised the Enquirer posted this on its site. Of the claims made, some are fully outright fabrications from an oft repeated internet chain letter by Nancy Markle in 1999 (there is no link to brain cancer at all). Others are not supported by relevant clinical studies (it makes you eat more and fain weight). At best this claim is inconclusive.
There are few food additives that have been more thoroughly vetted by the FDA than aspartame.
Sorry Jason,
No internet chain letter, and no junk science. The case for aspartame is so bleak that you have to be living in a cave not to be aware of the scientific literature. I would recommend you start with a simple overview prepared by neurosurgeon Dr. Russell Blaylock who outlines the case against aspartame in short order in his book “Excitotoxins”. It’s not comprehensive but it is short and sweet (pardon the pun) and offers some scientific references for your initiation. There are numerous studies linking aspartame to migraine headaches, seizure disorder and other neurological problems. So explore the length and depth of aspartame and you will find mountains of data. Go to Google Scholar and just type in “aspartame, cancer” and you will see hundreds of studies.
Happy hunting,
Dr. Gary Huber
This is a great article! I chew a lot of sugar-free gum (sweetened with aspartame)to keep from snacking throughout the day. Could this have an impact on my weight or contribute to sleep issues?
Hi Kerry,
Sadly yes, this small but consistent exposure is not your friend. There are other better options out there and although no artificial sweetener is good for you there are other choices that are far less dangerous.
Good health to you,
Dr. Gary Huber
Is Stevia considered an “artificial sweetener” in this category?
Hi Rachelle,
Stevia is a natural plant product so it is not a synthetic chemical and is certainly better than many of the other choices. Whether or not it causes weight gain is a question that hasn’t been answered fully to this point. It is essentially a “non-caloric” sweetener and so the principles that drive weight gain with other non-caloric sweeteners may also be in place with stevia. So the jury is out but I have no fear of stevia being harmful. If you struggle with weight then you might experiment with and without stevia to see if it affects you adversely on the scale. And keep working to reduce your need for sweetened taste. Find the real natural sweet taste of foods in their natural state.
Good luck,
Dr. Gary Huber
Look up the studies published on Nutrasweet’s website in thei reference list. Check out the first one in the caqtegory of obesity by Blackburn, et al. (1997) and read it. You will find those using aspartame sweetened soft drinks lost 9.9kg versus those drinking sugar sweetened soft drinks losing 9.8kg over a 3 year period, hence aspartame does not, despite having near zero calories, lead to greater weight loss as the factual evidence proves. Dont be mislead by the model they use to predict future outcomes as it is unreliable and would be provable with facts if it were true. By the way, notice that these companies using aspartame always refer to statements by the FDA (USA) or FSA (UK) instead of saying themselves that it is safe. These companies are not stupid, they know they are liable for false claims so they rather refer to an independent agency who is not accountable to anyone like the FSA, who is only accountable to parliament, a bunch of corrupt politicians who could care less about us.
I think the case is clear that there are no benefits for those wanting to lose weight. Notice the coca cloa company says on its webpage:
“Can sweeteners help me manage my weight?
When consistently used as part of an active, healthy lifestyle that includes a sensible, balanced diet and regular physical activity, sweeteners may help with weight control, but they don’t in themselves necessarily lead to weight loss.”
(http://www.coca-cola.co.uk/health/lowdown-on-aspartame-artificial-sweeteners.html)
There you go, as part of a bla bla diet, sweeteners MAY help…
Safety:
“There is no sound scientific evidence that is accepted by food safety authorities linking aspartame, or other low- and no-calorie sweeteners, to cancer in humans.”
(http://www.thecoca-colacompany.com/ourcompany/hal_sweeteners_misperceptions.html#)
Well waht do we have here, “no sound scientific evidence THAT IS ACCEPT, so simple have the FDA reject evidence which is sound and al is fine, always good to have these governement agencies that tell us what to believe and can magically disappear facts and nullify the effects deadly poisons have on us, thank you FDA, FSA. You are my heroes
Reference:
Blackburn, G. L. (1997) The effect of aspartame as part of a multidisciplinary weight-control program on short- and long-term control of body weight, American journal of Clinical Nutrition, 65 (2), pp. 409-418.