The bitter cost of sweet chemicals

In this post we’d like to share some parts from an article by Prof. Dr. NILUFER YILDIRIM about the harm that we would incur using sweeteners. For the full article (in Turkish) you can go link at the bottom of the post

1. Why do we have a weakness for desserts? Do they cause addiction?

The simple sugars that appeal to us with their flavor and all the carbohydrates that turn into them cause hormonal changes in the brain that stimulate the reward system. Just like delighting substances… moreover, it is almost impossible not to establish an emotional connection, since abstinence and the need for an increasingly high dose are similar to substance abuse.

2. Do sugary foods have the same effect?

Although the density of sugar and therefore its effect would be at a more innocent level, it is the same for all  sugary foods, including fruit sugar (fructose). While there were no sweet foods in nature for thousands of years except for a few fruits, today there is sugar or sweetener in everything. Unfortunately, we have started to pay for our sweet weakness with our health in the last century. The root cause of many metabolic problems such as rapidly increasing diabetes, fatty liver, obesity, hypertension, kidney dysfunction and cardiovascular diseases is obvious.

3. So could artificial sweeteners be less harmful because they are calorie-free?

Artificial sweeteners are those that give a sweet feeling hundreds of times more intense than sugar, but do not contain sugar, are calorie-free (!) artificial-chemical products. The reason why chemical sweeteners produced for insulin-dependent Type 1 Diabetes patients are abused in weight control is this ‘light’ illusion. That is a light and innocent image. For example, the sweetening power of Neotam, which was approved in 2002, is exactly 8 thousand times that of sugar.

4. Is the real harm of artificial sweeteners due to the fact that they are chemical?

These substances ‘artificial’ that is, factory-produced and it would be better to call them ‘chemical sweetener’ instead of calorie-free. It is difficult even for us doctors to pronounce their full names, let alone know their content and understand their interactions. For example, aspartame, which is 200 times sweeter than sugar, has the chemical name ‘N-(L-α-Aspartyl)-L-phenylalanine, 1-methyl ester’. Artificial sweetener tablets contain more additives, diluents, fillers and other protective chemicals than we can count. The situation is not much different with other FDA-approved artificial sweeteners. It is harmful to have all chemicals in our diet, not just artificial sweeteners.

SOURCE – for more … www.diken.com.tr/tatli-kimyasallarin-aci-bedeli/
Translated by BTT.