2628: Monk Fruit Extract & Stevia as Sugar Substitutes - The Science of Sugar Alternatives

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[00:01:05] It's another Q&A edition of Optimal Health Daily, episode 2628 and I'm Dr. Neal, your host of the show. Welcome back to another Friday show where I answer your questions. On all the other days I read health and fitness blogs to you like an audiobook, with permission from the

[00:01:21] authors of course. Now I'll let you know how you can send in your own question at the end of the show and get a copy of our workbook for free, but for now let's hear today's question and start optimizing

[00:01:32] your life. Hi Dr. Neal, I absolutely love your show. It's super motivating and very informative. I always listen to it on my way to work and it's a daily like motivation to stay healthy on track, especially with working out and being healthy. I love all information

[00:01:57] needed. Okay so now to my question. I am just curious if there are any side effects to using monk fruit sweetener and stevia sweeteners because I drink protein shakes. I use protein powder daily and they both have monk fruit sweetener and stevia sweeteners. I'm assuming

[00:02:19] they're the safest form of artificial sweetener. I'm just not sure if that they make you crave more things that are sweeter because I have noticed that I've been craving sweeter things

[00:02:31] as well as if it affects your microbiome or if it affects your gut health in a negative way. Hi Collar, thank you so much for your kind words and for being a regular listener. It makes me so happy to know that you find the show so helpful.

[00:02:48] Now I've shared this story before but I'm going to share it again because it's so perfect for this question. Years ago when I served as a health educator for a weight loss program, I would always

[00:02:58] tell my patients that if they wanted to satisfy their sweet craving diet soda and other foods with these alternative sweeteners were a good option. This was especially true for those with diabetes. Now why would I recommend the consumption of artificial sweeteners? Well it was because

[00:03:16] these foods typically had no or very few calories and no real sugar. This means they could consume as many sodas and sugar-free hard candies as they would like and it would still satisfy their sweet

[00:03:29] craving but we wouldn't have to worry about getting off track with their weight loss or blood sugar goals. But was this really the best advice? Well there are so many artificial sweeteners available at your local market it's hard to keep track. While some of them have been sold

[00:03:44] commercially for decades others are rookies and newer to the game. But what we're learning is not all of these sugar substitutes are created equal. Get it? Because equal is one type of sugar substitute? Eh? Okay I'll stop. Now one of the sweeteners you asked about was monk fruit

[00:04:02] extract so I'll start there. Now monk fruit is an actual fruit and it's naturally grown in China. Now it has been used in China for hundreds of years as a natural remedy for things like

[00:04:13] the common cold, a sore throat, coughs and congestion. Now in the United States the Food and Drug Administration or FDA has labeled monk fruit extract as generally recognized as safe for human consumption. This means that there doesn't appear to be any major negative health effects

[00:04:32] associated with its consumption but there are some other organizations that disagree with the FDA. For example the Center for Science and the Public Interest believes monk fruit extract should be used with caution. This is because they believe there aren't enough human studies to know

[00:04:51] whether long-term use is safe but we're going to come back to that idea a little later. Now I should mention what monk fruit extract is. It's just what it sounds like. It's an extract

[00:05:04] from the monk fruit. Now when we add this extract to our foods it doesn't mean we're getting a fruit serving at the same time. Yes it's derived from monk fruit which is a fruit but you're not getting an

[00:05:16] actual fruit serving. Instead the extract is made up of these compounds called mogricides and it turns out these mogricides make monk fruit extract taste 200 times sweeter than sugar. So as you can imagine monk fruit extract is becoming popular as a sugar substitute and like

[00:05:37] many other sugar substitutes it does contain zero calories. Next up stevia. Now stevia is sometimes called rebiana. This sweetener comes in different forms like truvia, purevia and sweetleaf. Now each is a little different in their chemical compositions. Stevia itself comes from the

[00:05:57] leaves of the Yerba Dulce plant. For now like monk fruit extract stevia is also generally recognized as safe by the Food and Drug Administration. This means that at this time there's not enough scientific evidence to show that stevia consumption may be harmful but I should mention that there

[00:06:16] are some studies that have shown stevia may lead to genetic mutations but these studies were performed in a lab and not with actual living humans. So when it comes to these alternative sweeteners and things like appetite and weight loss what we do find is that these sugar

[00:06:33] substitutes add sweetness and they do save calories initially but after consuming these zero calorie sweeteners some folks tend to make up for those calories by eating other sweet foods throughout the day. It's like these artificial sweeteners don't seem to satisfy the same way as regular

[00:06:52] sugar does so when it comes to things like weight management it turns out that these alternative sweeteners may not be all that effective. So here's what I would suggest right now most health

[00:07:04] experts agree that sugar alcohols are safe to use on a regular basis. These would be things like sorbitol and mannitol when it comes to stevia it does seem to be quite safe as well

[00:07:18] so stevia you could probably consume and really not worry about any harmful side effects but when it comes to monk fruit extract it might be worthwhile to consume it in small amounts for now until we

[00:07:30] know a bit more about it. I would feel more comfortable with monk fruit extract when for example the Center for the Science and the Public Interest agrees with the FDA that it is safe to consume and again don't be surprised if some of these alternative sweeteners don't satisfy

[00:07:46] your sweet tooth like you would imagine. So just be cautious if you find yourself craving sweet stuff even after using these substitutes. Thank you again so much for the question caller now if you want a

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[00:08:46] 1-61 I love OHD that's 1-614-568-3643 thank you so much for sending in your questions answering them is my favorite part of the show all right that's another Q&A edition of optimal health daily

[00:09:04] thank you so much for listening every day and all the way through I hope you have a great start to your weekend and I'll see you back here tomorrow where your optimal life awaits