Artificial Sweeteners
Artificial sweeteners act as an alternative to sugar, which are known to have lesser calories contents. These can be suitable for individuals following a strict diet regimen like those who have diabetes. An artificial sweeter is a kind of sugar-replacement that contains synthetic and herbal compounds like aspartame and agave.
As of the moment, the artificial sweeteners approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) are sucralose, saccharin, neotame, aspartame, and acesulfame potassium.
These are attractive substitutes to sugar as they do not put in calories in the diet. Only a portion of these is enough to sweeten food or drinks. These are widely present in soda, baked goods, dairy products, jellies, jams, canned goods, candies, powdered drinks, and a number of other beverages and foods.
Artificial Sweeteners Side Effects
Too much intake of artificial sweeteners results to a number of side effects to humans, including the following:
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Saccharin leads to urothelial cytotoxicity and has been linked to cancer of the urinary bladder.
This compound also contains sulfonamide that can lead to allergies to sulfa. -
Aspartame when consumed in huge quantities cause a number of symptoms including diarrhea, vomiting, nausea, dizziness, and headache. It also sets off fatigue, convulsions, seizure, vision changes, mood changes and vision problems. Besides that, occurrence of systemic lupus, cancer, multiple sclerosis and fibromyalgia are the severe complications of aspartame ingestion.
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Another form of artificial sweetener, sugar alcohol, can cause bloating, vomiting and diarrhea.
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Acesulfame potassium has methylene chloride which is known to be a carcinogen. Constant use of such can further lead to kidney problems, nausea and depression.
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Excessive use of sucralose can result to shrinking of the thymus gland and swollen liver and kidneys.
What Foods Contain Artificial Sweeteners
People consume various foods daily without knowing their actual contents. Artificial sweeteners are actually present in some of the daily foods people often eat. Thus, it is always best to check food labels prior to purchasing them. The following are some foods which actually contain some forms of artificial sweeteners.
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Snack bars – These seemingly-healthy foods actually contain sucralose.
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Diet or light sodas and drinks – To cut off the calorie in these beverages, artificial sweeteners are used, specifically sucralose with ace-potassium or acesulfame potassium.
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Yogurts – Manufacturers of yogurts make use of acesulfame potassium together with sucralose as their sweeteners.
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Popcorns – These wholegrain snacks are actually coated with artificial sweeteners.
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Breakfast cereals – Most of the cereals people eat for breakfast contain aspartame.