What are the risks of using sweeteners?

A lot of stories circulate about the dangers of sweeteners. While many of them are not substantiated, experts generally agree that the replacement for sugar can still have a negative effect on your body weight. How so?

In 2023, the World Health Organization (WHO) released a new guideline for the use of sweeteners. It investigated the effects of using them on a daily basis.

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The WHO says that sweeteners actually do nothing to help reduce the body size for adults or children in the long run.

In fact, the WHO warns against potential undesirable effects from the prolonged use of sweeteners, such as the risk of developing type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular diseases, and mortality in adults.

The new guideline doesn't apply to people with pre-existing diabetes. They should follow the diet their doctor recommends.

The list of non-sugar sweeteners analyzed by the WHO includes saccharin, sucralose, aspartame, stevia, and derivatives.

According to the WHO, these sweeteners should not be used as sugar substitutes for weight control or the reduction of chronic illnesses like diabetes, cardiovascular diseases, strokes, or cancer.

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As Francesco Branca from the WHO says, "people need to consider other ways to reduce free sugars intake, such as consuming food with naturally occurring sugars, like fruit, or unsweetened food and beverages."

Another important factor to consider is that sweeteners have no nutritional value and do not contribute to a good diet.

The WHO's guidance does not mean that you should switch diet drinks for sugary drinks again, but instead, it wants you to be aware that the frequent intake of sweeteners is not a healthy alternative to fresh, low-calorie food.

The recommendation is to increase the consumption of fruits, vegetables, and foods without added sugar. If a person takes care of their diet and consumes a few sugary products, it won't make that much impact to use sweeteners from time to time.

"Normally, sweeteners are present in foods such as ice cream and soft drinks and can, indeed, contribute to an unhealthy lifestyle," says Marcia Daskal from the Brazilian Nutrition Association. "Is the sweetener itself bad? No. The problem would be the dietary context in which it appears."

Photo: Unsplash - Patrick Fore

Endocrinologist Fernanda Braga Albuquerque says that governments should "regulate this consumption, to bring more clarity to the population, perhaps on labels, in statements in advertisements, in broadcasting health content."

Marcia Daskal explains that "the ideal would be not to sweeten products and foods." Try to train your tongue and brain to crave less sweetness, and you will be less dependent on both sugar and its replacements.

Also, she says, people should "avoid excessive consumption of processed foods, which contain both sugar and sweeteners."

Some habits are hard to get rid of, and drinking coffee with a sweetener is not the most harmful treat of all. If you have a healthy lifestyle, you can still drink that cup of coffee the way you're used to.

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