Are sugar-free drinks harmful to human health? Please listen to us, professionals will take you to the truth

Nowadays, in order to pursue a healthy lifestyle, more and more sugar-free beverages have been developed and entered the public's attention. In terms of product selection, they are also more sought after and favored by consumers.

However, in recent years, terms or slogans such as "sugar-free beverages are harmful to human health" and "sugar-free beverages are more harmful than sugar-free beverages" have continuously appeared on some public accounts and news, and various " Anti-sugar wind". Consumers inevitably have questions, are sugar-free drinks really healthy?

The sugar in "sugar-free drinks" mainly refers to glucose, sucrose, maltose and fructose. Excessive consumption of these carbohydrates will lead to increased blood sugar in the human body and increased insulin secretion. Excessive consumption of these carbohydrates can easily lead to symptoms such as obesity and diabetes.

Therefore, people choose non-sugar sweeteners, that is, non-nutritive sweeteners, to replace sugar substances added to beverages, which will not affect the taste of beverages while satisfying a healthy lifestyle.

So what exactly are "non-nutritive sweeteners" added to beverages?

There are three main types of non-nutritive sweeteners on the market now: one is "artificial sweeteners", such as common sucralose, saccharin, aspartame, cyclamate, etc.;

There is also a category of "natural sweeteners", such as Steviol Glycosides, mogrosides, etc.

natural sweetener

The remaining class belongs to "semi-natural sweeteners," which are structurally similar to sugars, such as maltitol, erythritol, and sorbitol.

The main source of sweetness in a sparkling water formula table

The above-mentioned "non-nutritive sweeteners" have similar structures or units as glucose, so they can produce a sweet taste similar to glucose. Not only that, the sweetness of other sweeteners except sugar alcohols can reach 200 times that of sucrose. above.

But unlike glucose, its skeleton cannot be absorbed by the human digestive tract, so it does not generate heat or cause fluctuations in blood sugar in the human body. Therefore, it can be used as a very ideal food additive in daily food and beverages.

03 Are sweeteners harmful?

However, on August 19, 2022, an article "Personalized microbiome-driven effects of non-nutritive sweeteners on human glucose tolerance" was published in Cell, so the article "Non-nutritive sweeteners affect human blood sugar and metabolism" Related news spread overwhelmingly on the Internet, and sweeteners and related products were once again pushed to the forefront.

In this paper, the researchers tested the effects of four non-nutritive sweeteners, including saccharin, sucralose, aspartame, and steviol glycosides, on blood glucose tolerance and gut microbes in humans.

Among them, saccharin and sucralose, which are artificial sweeteners, can affect human blood sugar tolerance, while aspartame and steviol glycosides, which are natural sweeteners, will not affect human blood sugar tolerance.

At the same time, researchers have not clearly revealed the specific mechanism by which non-nutritive sweeteners affect human blood sugar and gut microbes.

04natural sweetener

Artificial sweeteners are indeed controversial, but natural sweeteners such as steviol glycosides can not only be used as sugar substitutes to stabilize blood sugar while satisfying people's sweet taste, but also have other positive effects on human health:

(1) Steviol glycosides have the function of preventing oral diseases such as dental caries. Its non-fermentative properties prevent it from being used by bacteria in the oral cavity, reducing the nutrients required for bacterial growth, and reducing the acid in the oral cavity, preventing the teeth from being acidified and damaged.

(2) Steviol glycosides can be used as an antibacterial and antiviral agent to prevent intestinal muscle contraction, help prevent irritable bowel and inflammatory bowel disease and other related diseases, and have a certain antidiarrheal function.

(3) In addition, steviol glycosides can also reduce blood pressure by inhibiting the inflow of Ca2+, and at the same time, it can also reduce the synthesis of cholesterol in the body by inhibiting the activity of 3-hydroxy-3-methylglutaryl coenzyme A in the body. Regulates blood lipids in the body.

(4) Steviol glycosides can also reduce the deposition of oxidized low-density lipoprotein, increase the expression of superoxide dismutase, and inhibit atherosclerosis. The latest research report also pointed out that steviol glycosides have potential anticancer activity against triple negative breast cancer.

Not only that, so far there is no literature that clearly shows that natural sweeteners have adverse effects on the human digestive system, nervous system, circulatory system and endocrine system.

Therefore, not all sweeteners will adversely affect human health, and artificial sweeteners and natural sweeteners should be differentiated when purchasing products.

The 2022 American Diabetes Association Standards of Care for Diabetes Care states: "For some people with diabetes who are accustomed to consuming sugar-sweetened products on a regular basis, the use of non-nutritive sweeteners does not appear to have a significant effect on blood sugar management, but they can reduce total calories and carbohydrates intake of the compound, as long as the individual does not obtain additional calories from other food sources."

Therefore, I hope that everyone will not demonize sugar-free drinks and related products, let alone follow the trend blindly, and make your own choices reasonably!