• joethebob
    +3

    Edit : Oh! and by the way, artificial sweeteners that are used in diet beverages is actually worse than sugar : it makes the drink sweet without the carbohydrate that it usually means, so your brain prepares to receive an energy boost because of the taste, but it never comes, so it digests your muscle tissue instead, and if you do that often enough, your body gets used to it (not receiving the energy that it needs, despite the taste), so it stocks any form of energy it can find elsewhere, in the form of fat. So diet beverages actually make you fatter than the regular (still crap for your health) sweet beverages. And that is without considering a good chunk of these artificial sweeteners are also carcinogenic (they give you cancer).

    I'd love to see some credible sources for any of this. It's may be generally accepted by noueveau hippy types, but there is little and no science behind almost all of it. For starters all the cancer studies that seem to be constantly recycled like a social virus, is complete bunk. The only ones I'm aware of tested with dosages so far out of proportion to the size of the test subject that many so called 'healthy' compounds would have been lethal.

    • Bastou (edited 7 years ago)
      +3

      some credible sources for any of this

      - Harvard
      - US National Library of Medicine

      But the evidence about cancer seems to be week indeed, I'll give you that.

      • AdelleChattre (edited 7 years ago)
        +3

        From the first source given:

        There is conflicting research surrounding the health benefits of artificially sweetened drinks. Long-term studies show that regular consumption of artificially sweetened beverages reduces the intake of calories and promotes weight loss or maintenance, but other research shows no effect, and some studies even show weight gain.

        From the second:

        Presently, there is no strong clinical evidence for causality regarding artificial sweetener use and metabolic health effects, but it is important to examine possible contributions of these common food additives to the global rise in pediatric obesity and diabetes.

        Around cancer, from the third:

        Questions about artificial sweeteners and cancer arose when early studies showed that cyclamate in combination with saccharin caused bladder cancer in laboratory animals. However, results from subsequent carcinogenicity studies (studies that examine whether a substance can cause cancer) of these sweeteners have not provided clear evidence of an association with cancer in humans. Similarly, studies of other FDA-approved sweeteners have not demonstrated clear evidence of an association with cancer in humans.

        Intuitively, it seems like formaldehyde and formic acid being metabolites of aspartame would hint at there being something to find with a good look. Still, though, crazily enough, there's no "there" there.

        • Bastou
          +2

          Still, I wouldn't touch that shit until it's unequivocally proven as harmless.

        • AdelleChattre
          +2
          @Bastou -

          It's unequivocal. I was weirdly disappointed too. There's more to worry about in the plastic bottles and environs than the artificial sweeteners.

        • Gozzin
          +3
          @AdelleChattre -

          Yep..And plastic is destroying wildlife on land and in water world wide..And it's screwing us up too.

        • Bastou
          +4
          @AdelleChattre -

          It's funny to compare Europe and America's approaches to banning products for agricultural and human consumption. In Europe, if something is suspected to cause harm, it is first banned, and people who want to use/sell it have to prove beyond reasonable doubt that it's harmless. In the USA, before something gets banned, people have to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that it causes harm, and then again, if a lobby representing anyone making money out of that product is strong enough, it may not get banned even if there is substantial proof that it's harmful!