Tea Time:Artificial Sweeteners

​Types and sources:

• aspartame (Nutrasweet)
  • Soft drinks
• Sucralose (Splenda)
  • Beverages, frozen foods, baked goods, gum
  • 85% is passed thru the body unchanged
• advantame, neotame
• saccharin (Sweet-n-Low, along with cyclamate)
  • Drinks, foods, toothpaste
• Acesulfame potassium (Ace-K)
  • Heat stable (baked goods)
  • Soft drinks w/sucralose or aspartame
• Plant-based
  • Stevia (Truvia and PureVia)
  • Monk fruit
• plant-derived (sugar-alcohols)
  • sorbitol
  • xylitol
  • lactitol
  • Variety of food products, gum
• Research on safety
  • Aspartame is most studied, but has most claims against it (cancer)
  • Cyclamate (Sweet-n-low) banned in US but approved in most other countries
  • Saccharin has been liked to cancers but all warnings lifted
  • Sugar alcohols are not absorbed and will cause diarrhea at 10g or more
  • Negative effects on gut microbiome
• Recommendations for use
  • 2017 review did not find evidence supporting the use of non-nutritive sweeteners for weight loss.
  • Use in moderation (<1can/d)
    • Try to cut down by swapping to another type of soda or bubbly drink, smaller containers, drink less often