8 ways artificial sweeteners harm your body

How can any food or drink taste sweet but contain almost no sugar?

You already know the secret: it is an artificial sweetener such as aspartame, saccharin, or sucralose.

Let’s look at why you’ll want to be careful or avoid consuming these based on what the science shows about their safety.

Aspartame, saccharin, and sucralose

Aspartame (NutraSweet™) is approximately 180 times sweeter than table sugar (sucrose). It might be helpful to understand a short history behind aspartame and the NutraSweet™ manufacturing plant.

It was invented by chemists G.D. Searle & Company in 1965; Monsanto bought it from Searle in 1985 then later sold it to a private equity firm who sold it to Manus Bio Inc in 2018. This information will be pertinent a little later in this report as I discuss studies used to get FDA (Food and Drug Administration) approval.

I have read conflicting information about the safety of artificial sweeteners. Still, for years I have told my patients that diet soda is worse for them and that they may be sensitive to the artificial sweeteners. Let me tell you why I still recommend this…

First, you should know that the FDA’s Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition has developed a way for citizens to report adverse effects from food additives. It is called the Adverse Reaction Monitoring System (ARMS). We know that aspartame is one of the two most reported additives causing adverse health reactions.

Related: 7+ sweeteners as sweet on your health as they taste

As of 1995 (when the FDA stopped accepting aspartame adverse effect reporting), more than 75% of the adverse reactions to ARMS were due to aspartame. We need to consider that, realistically, an extremely low percentage of adverse reactions are even reported to the FDA. Therefore, there are likely millions of people with aspartame toxicity reactions, most of whom are unaware of the connection to their symptoms. Or, they may not yet experience clinically-obvious symptoms from aspartame metabolites but who may eventually experience health problems from chronic exposure to it.

Some of the reported aspartame-caused symptoms include seizures, headaches, memory loss, tremors, vision loss, nausea, dizziness, depression, irritability, anxiety, heart palpitations, chest pains, loss of blood sugar control, arthritic pains, weight gain, and fluid retention.

For example, even the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) has reviewed these reports, which largely included complaints of neurologic (including 251 reports of seizures) and gastrointestinal symptoms plus more classic allergic reactions.

So now, try and understand why other studies show “no adverse effect” from aspartame (more on this a little later). It just doesn’t make sense that it could be all in their heads.

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Studies showing harmful effects of artificial sweeteners

In contrast, the scientific literature has ample evidence of the harmful effects of aspartame, saccharin, and sucralose, especially on vulnerable people:

1. Depression: In a study, 40 subjects with depression who received aspartame 30 mg/kg/day or placebo for 7 days were compared to approximately 40 control subjects (individuals without a psychiatric history) who also received aspartame or placebo, 13 individuals in the depression group had severe reactions. The researchers concluded that “…individuals with mood disorders are particularly sensitive to this artificial sweetener and its use in this population should be discouraged.”
2. Disrupted gut microbiome: there is mounting evidence that aspartame, saccharin, and sucralose disrupt gut microbiota balance and diversity.
3. Glucose intolerance: Fecal transplant experiments (microbiota taken from hosts consuming artificial sweeteners and then transferred into germ-free mice) results in impaired glucose tolerance. Yes, diabetics may control their blood sugar with artificial sweeteners better at first, but over time they will improve their blood sugar best if they exercise, use stevia (discussed in my previous article), and drink limited regular sodas or wean off sodas altogether.
4. Weight gain: While folks often choose “diet” products to lose weight, research studies suggest that artificial sweeteners may make you put on more weight. Researchers used a rat model and found that addition of either saccharin or aspartame to yogurt resulted in increased weight gain compared to the addition of sucrose (table sugar) with similar total caloric intake among the study groups!
5. Toxic to brain nerve cells: Astrocytes in the brain can be damaged by aspartame metabolites in the human body, which are phenylalanine (50%), aspartic acid (40%) and methanol (10%). An “excess of phenylalanine” has been found to contribute to reduced levels of the important brain neurotransmitters, dopamine and serotonin, and “leads to the degeneration of astrocytes and neurons. The methanol metabolites cause CNS depression, vision disorders and other symptoms leading ultimately to metabolic acidosis and coma.”
6. Cancer-promoting in the brain: “Despite intense speculations about the carcinogenicity of aspartame, the latest studies show that its metabolite — diketopiperazine — is carcinogenic in the CNS [central nervous system]. It contributes to the formation of tumors in the CNS such as gliomas, medulloblastomas, and meningiomas.”
7. Connection to autoimmune thyroiditis (Hashimoto’s thyroiditis): animal studies indicate that sucralose diminishes the thyroid axis activity. Researchers presented a case study of a 52-year-old female with Hashimoto’s thyroiditis caused by an excessive intake of artificially sweetened beverages. After they ruled out any other autoimmune disorder causing it, the patient had a quick return of thyroid function and antibody levels to normal just after eliminating the artificial sweetener from her diet — basically proving it was the culprit causing her Hashimoto’s thyroiditis.
8. Aspartame accumulates: rats treated with non-radioactive aspartame during ten days resulted in the accumulation of even more radioactive aspartame and formaldehyde, suggesting that formaldehyde from aspartame in tissue proteins and nucleic acids may bio-accumulate.

Studies that show “no adverse effect” from aspartame

For what it’s worth, the European Food Safety Authority (a government organization) had a panel of scientists provide their opinion on the safety of aspartame.  The panel concluded that:

• “Developmental toxicity in animals was attributable to phenylalanine
• “Phenylalanine at high plasma levels is known to cause developmental toxicity in humans”
• “Aspartame was not of safety concern at the current aspartame exposure estimates…therefore, there was no reason to revise the acceptable daily intake (or ADI, the amount that can be ingested daily over a lifetime without appreciable health risk) of aspartame.

There are other studies done by organizations (not independent research as far as I know) that will make the claim of complete harmlessness of artificial sweeteners.

Maybe this final paragraph will give a bit more insight. Ralph G. Walton, M.D. the former chairman of The Center for Behavioral Medicine, Northeastern Ohio Universities College of Medicine did an analysis of the peer-reviewed literature on the subject. He reported that he analyzed 164 relevant studies regarding human safety; of the 90 non-industry-sponsored (independent) studies, 83 (92%) identified one or more problems with aspartame. Of the 74 industry-sponsored aspartame studies, all 74 (100%) claimed that no problems were found with aspartame. It makes you wonder, doesn’t it?

In my next report, let’s take a look at the new and improved NutraSweet™ that is now even more prevalent: neotame

To healthy sweeteners and long-term health,

Michael Cutler, M.D.

Sources:

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10. Sachmechi I, Khalid A, Awan SI, Malik ZR, Sharifzadeh M. Autoimmune Thyroiditis with Hypothyroidism Induced by Sugar Substitutes — Cureus. 2018 Sep 7;10(9):e3268. PubMed PMID: 30430057
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