2671: Sugar Substitutes: Good, Bad, Ugly? by Nancy Clark on The Pros and Cons of Low and No Calorie Sweeteners (LNCS)

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[00:01:01] [SPEAKER_00]: That's wonderfulpistachios.com. This is Optimal Health Daily. Sugar Substitutes,

[00:01:08] [SPEAKER_00]: Good, Bad, Ugly? By Nancy Clark of nancyclarkrd.com. And I'm your host and personal narrator, Dr. Neil.

[00:01:17] [SPEAKER_00]: Welcome back to Optimal Health Daily or welcome for the first time if you're new here.

[00:01:22] [SPEAKER_00]: This is the podcast where I read to you from some of the most popular health and fitness blogs

[00:01:27] [SPEAKER_00]: online. All right, and with that, let's get right to it as we optimize your life.

[00:01:37] [SPEAKER_00]: Sugar Substitutes, Good, Bad, Ugly? By Nancy Clark of nancyclarkrd.com.

[00:01:45] [SPEAKER_00]: Today's athletes are confronted with a plethora of foods and beverages containing low or no calorie

[00:01:51] [SPEAKER_00]: sweeteners. Examples of foods or beverages containing low or no calorie sweeteners would

[00:01:57] [SPEAKER_00]: be Diet Pepsi, Halo Top Ice Cream, and Gatorade Zero. So questions arise. Are these products a

[00:02:05] [SPEAKER_00]: better option than their sugar-containing versions? Will they help you lose weight?

[00:02:10] [SPEAKER_00]: And are they safe? The goal of this article is not to recommend for or against low or no

[00:02:16] [SPEAKER_00]: calorie sweeteners such as Equal or Aspartame, Sweet and Low or Saccharin, and Truvia also known

[00:02:23] [SPEAKER_00]: as Stevia, but rather to offer science-based information to help you decide whether or not

[00:02:29] [SPEAKER_00]: they are safe to include in your sports diet. Background info. The 2020 to 2025 US Dietary

[00:02:37] [SPEAKER_00]: Guidelines for Americans state that we should limit added sugars to less than 10% of our daily

[00:02:43] [SPEAKER_00]: calories. The average American who is typically unfit and overfat consumes about 270 calories of

[00:02:51] [SPEAKER_00]: added sugars a day. That equates to about 17 teaspoons or 13% of their total calories consumed.

[00:03:00] [SPEAKER_00]: Soft drinks, other sweetened beverages, cookies, candy, and desserts are common culprits.

[00:03:06] [SPEAKER_00]: For a sedentary person who may require 1,800 calories a day, 10% of calories equates to 180

[00:03:14] [SPEAKER_00]: calories or 45 grams of added sugars a day that displace wholesome foods. Given that exercise

[00:03:22] [SPEAKER_00]: enhances our ability to metabolize sugar, active people are less likely to end up with health

[00:03:27] [SPEAKER_00]: issues like prediabetes or type 2 diabetes related to sugar consumption. For them, added sugars can

[00:03:35] [SPEAKER_00]: be a useful source of muscle fuel. And ideally, the sugar they consume comes with nutrients, such

[00:03:41] [SPEAKER_00]: as a post-exercise recovery chug of chocolate milk. Today's competitive athletes often select

[00:03:47] [SPEAKER_00]: their foods more wisely than the average American. Their hope is to not only enhance performance,

[00:03:54] [SPEAKER_00]: but also reduce their risk of injury and invest in their longevity. For an athlete eating more

[00:04:00] [SPEAKER_00]: than 3,000 calories a day, the guideline of less than 10% of total calories from added sugars

[00:04:05] [SPEAKER_00]: equates to 300 calories or about 75 grams of added sugars a day. That leaves plenty of space for some

[00:04:13] [SPEAKER_00]: sugary sports foods and treats if desired. Athletes' bodies tend to readily use sugars to

[00:04:19] [SPEAKER_00]: replenish depleted muscle glycogen stores. And these sugars appear in the blood as glucose.

[00:04:25] [SPEAKER_00]: During long, hard workouts, sugar-filled gels and sports drinks can enhance performance.

[00:04:32] [SPEAKER_00]: So why would an athlete want to choose a Gatorade Zero or Propel with low or no calorie sweeteners?

[00:04:38] [SPEAKER_00]: Well, if they're weight conscious, low or no calorie sweeteners can help athletes save a few

[00:04:43] [SPEAKER_00]: calories, though doing so while exercising can hurt performance. With meals and snacks,

[00:04:49] [SPEAKER_00]: swapping a can of sugar sweetened soda for a diet soda ideally allows the athlete to enjoy

[00:04:55] [SPEAKER_00]: 150 more calories of nutrient-dense foods, such as fruits or veggies. We know what often happens,

[00:05:02] [SPEAKER_00]: however – the saved calories go towards cookies. Are foods sweetened with low or no calorie

[00:05:07] [SPEAKER_00]: sweeteners a way for athletes to have their cake and eat it too? The media has certainly painted

[00:05:13] [SPEAKER_00]: a halo of horror on low or no calorie sweeteners, leading many to believe they are mysterious

[00:05:18] [SPEAKER_00]: chemicals, contribute to obesity and bolster one's sweet tooth. Are they really bad for you?

[00:05:24] [SPEAKER_00]: Let's take a look at what the science says. Aren't they nothing but scary chemicals?

[00:05:30] [SPEAKER_00]: All foods are made of chemicals – carbon, oxygen and nitrogen. Aspartame, whose brand names are

[00:05:36] [SPEAKER_00]: NutraSweet and Equal, is made of two amino acids that taste 200 times sweeter than table sugar.

[00:05:42] [SPEAKER_00]: You need, therefore, very little of it. The powder you find in the blue packet is mostly

[00:05:47] [SPEAKER_00]: a harmless filler that keeps the few molecules of sweetener from getting lost in the packaging.

[00:05:53] [SPEAKER_00]: Are they safe to consume? Sugar substitutes are among the most highly studied ingredients out

[00:05:58] [SPEAKER_00]: there. The FDA, World Health Organization and other global health organizations have confirmed

[00:06:04] [SPEAKER_00]: the safety of these products in doses well above the amounts commonly consumed by humans. Studies

[00:06:10] [SPEAKER_00]: which reported a link to cancer were done with animals, given absurd amounts of no or low calorie

[00:06:16] [SPEAKER_00]: sweeteners and are not relevant to humans in real life. That said, the Food and Drug Administration

[00:06:22] [SPEAKER_00]: or FDA has established acceptable daily intakes for these sweeteners. Acceptable daily intakes

[00:06:29] [SPEAKER_00]: are the amounts of a low or no calorie sweetener a human can consume every day during their life,

[00:06:35] [SPEAKER_00]: with a built-in 100-fold safety factor below which no adverse effects have been seen.

[00:06:42] [SPEAKER_00]: For aspartame, the acceptable daily intake equates to 107 of those little blue packets a day,

[00:06:50] [SPEAKER_00]: or about 19 cans of diet soda every day of your life. So yes, some athletes could overshoot the

[00:06:57] [SPEAKER_00]: acceptable daily intakes, but it's highly unlikely. Do low and no calorie sweeteners

[00:07:02] [SPEAKER_00]: lead to weight loss? Low or no calorie sweeteners are one tool in a dieter's toolbox. They can help

[00:07:09] [SPEAKER_00]: dieters lose weight if they displace calories the dieter does not replace. One athlete told me he

[00:07:15] [SPEAKER_00]: lost 30 pounds in a year just by trading in his lunch and dinner time can of Pepsi for diet Pepsi.

[00:07:21] [SPEAKER_00]: That one simple change shaved off 300 calories a day that he did not replace. That said, research

[00:07:29] [SPEAKER_00]: indicates people can easily compensate for the calories by eating more of other foods.

[00:07:35] [SPEAKER_00]: Do low and no calorie sweeteners lead to weight gain? No. People who drink diet soda are more

[00:07:42] [SPEAKER_00]: likely to be overweight, but diet soda did not cause the weight gain. Rather, people who live

[00:07:49] [SPEAKER_00]: in large bodies are more likely to use low or no calorie sweeteners to save some calories.

[00:07:55] [SPEAKER_00]: Don't these sweeteners trick the body into thinking it's getting sugar and trigger a spike

[00:07:59] [SPEAKER_00]: in blood glucose followed by a crash and then hunger? Well-controlled, randomized studies

[00:08:04] [SPEAKER_00]: indicate the answer is no. Nor do low or no calorie sweeteners make people feel hungrier.

[00:08:11] [SPEAKER_00]: Some animal studies have shown that low or no calorie sweeteners might increase appetite,

[00:08:16] [SPEAKER_00]: but those studies were conducted with large amounts of low or no calorie sweeteners that

[00:08:20] [SPEAKER_00]: we would never consume. This has not been replicated in humans. Do no or low calorie

[00:08:26] [SPEAKER_00]: sweeteners have a negative impact on the microbiome? Questionable research with mice

[00:08:31] [SPEAKER_00]: who consumed very large amounts of saccharin suggests it might impact the microbiome of

[00:08:37] [SPEAKER_00]: rodents. But no conclusive evidence to date indicates low or no calorie sweeteners negatively

[00:08:43] [SPEAKER_00]: impact the human gut microbiome. Stay tuned! The bottom line. We are all born with an innate

[00:08:50] [SPEAKER_00]: desire for sweet tastes, starting with breast milk. We have many options for satisfying that

[00:08:56] [SPEAKER_00]: sweet tooth in good health. You just listened to the post titled, Sugar Substitutes – Good,

[00:09:06] [SPEAKER_00]: Bad, Ugly? by Nancy Clark of nancyclarkrd.com and I'll be right back with my commentary.

[00:09:13] [SPEAKER_00]: Dr. Neil here for my commentary. If you're the extra cautious type when it comes to low or no

[00:09:19] [SPEAKER_00]: calorie sweeteners, my general recommendation would be this. Based on the research I've seen

[00:09:24] [SPEAKER_00]: up until this point, the sugar substitutes that would be considered safe to use on a regular

[00:09:29] [SPEAKER_00]: basis again at this point are sugar alcohols like sorbitol and mannitol and possibly stevia.

[00:09:37] [SPEAKER_00]: Now, the others don't need to be avoided completely so don't get me wrong. We just may want to use

[00:09:42] [SPEAKER_00]: them with caution for now, just until more studies have been performed and made available.

[00:09:47] [SPEAKER_00]: Alright, that'll do it for another edition of Optimal Health Daily. Thank you so much

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[00:10:01] [SPEAKER_00]: you have a great rest of your weekend and I'll be back here with more tomorrow where your optimal

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