Rethinking Artificial Sweeteners
NEW RESEARCH CHALLENGES THE NOTION that aspartame and other non-nutritive sweeteners do not affect our body.
Non-nutritive sweeteners (NNS) are high-intensity sweeteners and typically have no or very few calories. Due to recommendations to limit dietary sugar intake, NNS have become widely used.
Do you think of sugar substitutes as metabolically inert? You may be surprised that these artificial substances are not metabolically inert. They can change our gut microbiome in ways that influence blood sugar levels.
Non-nutritive sweetener types
Naturally occurring non-nutritive sweeteners (NNS) are made from plant-based products. On the other hand, we have synthetic (“artificial”) sweeteners.
We measure NNS sweetness by comparing the substances with a sucrose solution of 30 grams per liter, the lowest detectable concentration level for our taste buds.
Synthetic NNS examples
For example, sucralose (EZ Sweet, Nevala, Sweetzfree, Splenda) has 600 to 650-times the sweetening power of the sucrose solution. Saccharin (Necta Sweet, Sweet n Low, Heremestas) has 300 to 500 times the sweetening power of sucrose. Finally, aspartame (AminoSweet, Candarel, Equal, NatraTaste) has 200 to 300-times the sucrose power.
