{"id":4213,"date":"2021-04-06T09:00:12","date_gmt":"2021-04-06T09:00:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dev.centaxpharma.com\/do-sweeteners-make-you-fat-and-cause-cancer\/"},"modified":"2021-04-06T09:00:12","modified_gmt":"2021-04-06T09:00:12","slug":"do-sweeteners-make-you-fat-and-cause-cancer","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/centaxpharma.com\/en\/do-sweeteners-make-you-fat-and-cause-cancer\/","title":{"rendered":"Do sweeteners make you fat and cause cancer?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Diet Coke came onto the market in 1982, followed by Coke Zero in 2005. Nowadays<\/strong> supermarket shelves offer a sugar-free version of almost every drink.<\/strong> So we can all see clearly that light products are a fixed part of the food market. And yet the debate about sweeteners<\/strong> is bigger than ever! We all know at least one person who categorically rejects light products because they supposedly do not taste good, cause cancer or even make you fat. Whether these claims are true and what sweeteners are really all about is explained in more detail in this second article in our series “Nutrition myths uncovered”.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What are sweeteners anyway?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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Sweeteners, also called sugar substitutes, are a group of substances that are just as sweet as sugar or even sweeter<\/strong> but have hardly any calories<\/strong>. That is the big difference from sugar. The sugar substitute aspartame, for example, has about 200 times the sweetening power of sugar and still no calories. This makes it possible to replace sugar in many products<\/strong> and so reduce the calories<\/strong>. It is very easy to tell whether a product contains these substitutes: they are listed with E numbers on the food packaging (e.g. aspartame \u2013 E 951).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What do sweeteners taste like?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Because the sensation “sweet<\/strong>” is perceived on the tongue by only one receptor<\/strong>, our brain<\/strong> cannot distinguish between sweetener and sugar.<\/strong> However, some of the substitutes have off-flavours<\/strong> that we find unpleasant. Some sugar substitutes then have, for example, a bitter, metallic or plastic-like aftertaste.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So you may be able to taste the difference from sugar, but only in very large amounts. Sweeteners are usually needed only in small amounts, however, so most of the time no strange off-flavour can be tasted at all. It is therefore worth trying different products until you have found a tasty one!<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Sugar<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Stevia<\/strong> deserves a special mention here. It tastes bitter and liquorice-like, which some people find unpleasant. A survey by the University of Hohenheim found that a third of respondents perceived the taste as \u201cunnatural\u201d, \u201cliquorice-like\u201d and \u201cbitter\u201d. In addition, 40% said they did not want to use stevia in future.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Compared with stevia, sugar substitutes such as aspartame and sucralose are used gladly and frequently by many people.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Do sweeteners cause cancer?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The health risk of sugar substitutes is discussed and questioned again and again. However, the German Federal Institute for Risk Assessment gives the all-clear<\/strong>. According to the current state of science, there is no reason to assume that they are carcinogenic<\/strong>. From study results, an acceptable daily intake was derived at which sweeteners can be consumed without health concerns, and this limit is very high. If we do the maths, you would have to drink 27 litres of Coke Zero every day (based on a man weighing 70 kg) to exceed this limit<\/strong>. So you do not need to worry about your health when you drink your Diet Coke.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Do sweeteners make you fat?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

This claim probably goes back to several sources. For one thing, in a study on mice<\/strong> the regular consumption of sugar substitutes did in fact lead to weight gain<\/strong>. For another, it is claimed from various sides that they also promote food cravings<\/strong>. But do you now have to fear gaining weight after drinking a Diet Coke?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Scientists give the all-clear here too<\/strong>. Although the study<\/a> on mice found a change in the gut flora caused by sweeteners, it is not yet clear at all whether this can be transferred to humans. There is therefore currently no conclusive evidence that the substitutes make you fat.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, sweeteners are also no guarantee of successful weight loss<\/strong>. Studies<\/a> in humans found no significant effects of sweetener consumption on reducing body weight. On the contrary, some studies<\/a> even showed a slight weight increase in the group that consumed sweeteners.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But before you now think that sweeteners do make you fat after all: no, not necessarily! Of course, just because you replace the normal product with the light version<\/strong>, that is still a long way from successful dieting<\/strong>. Instead, a light product offers the convenient option<\/strong> of not having to give up<\/strong> individual, very sugary products in your diet. But sweeteners cannot make up for an unhealthy lifestyle in which you still eat too much and move too little.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"White<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Nutrition myth uncovered<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Sweeteners are therefore a safe way to reduce the sugar in your diet. You do not need to worry that sugar substitutes will make you ill or fat.<\/strong> If you like the taste, feel free to consume them; they can help you make your diet easier and not have to give up everything. Nevertheless, you should of course pay attention to a healthy diet and lifestyle.<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Diet Coke came onto the market in 1982, followed by Coke Zero in 2005. Nowadays supermarket shelves offer a sugar-free version of almost every drink. So we can all see clearly that light products are a fixed part of the food market. And yet the debate about sweeteners is bigger than ever! We all know […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":853,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[47,50],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4213","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-health","category-nutrition"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/centaxpharma.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4213","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/centaxpharma.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/centaxpharma.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/centaxpharma.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/centaxpharma.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4213"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/centaxpharma.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4213\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/centaxpharma.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/853"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/centaxpharma.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4213"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/centaxpharma.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4213"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/centaxpharma.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4213"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}