Whether they are sugars added to sauces, ready-to-eat foods, drinks or snacks or sweeteners, such as aspartame or saccharin, a good choice is to avoid all these substances and prefer natural foods, enjoying them pure. In fact, two very recent scientific studies show that, in the long term, both added sugars and sweeteners can have important health consequences. But let’s try to understand better.
Sweeteners make you fatThe first research was published in the International Journal of Obesity of the prestigious Nature group and was conducted by an American team from the University of Minnesota, School of Medicine (Steffen et al, International Journal of Obesity, 2023). Scientists have been trying to understand the effects of some very common sweeteners, such as aspartame and saccharin, on fat storage. For this purpose, 3088 people were recruited, average age 25 years. The volunteers were followed up for 20 years, during which they were asked to fill out questionnaires indicating their eating habits and they underwent periodic medical visits to measure their waist size and thus the accumulation of visceral fat, the most dangerous for health, but also intramuscular and subcutaneous fat. What emerged was that, in the long term, those who consumed the most foods containing aspartame and saccharin and diet drinks also had a greater accumulation of abdominal, intramuscular and subcutaneous fat, with an increased risk of developing obesity.Too much added sugar increases the risk of kidney stonesThe second research was published in the journal Frontiers in Nutrition thanks to a collaboration between Swedish and Chinese scientists (Yin et al, Frontiers in Nutrition, 2023). In this case, the scientists’ aim was to evaluate the impact of added sugars on the formation of kidney stones. 28303 adults were recruited and followed up for 11 years. Study participants were monitored both by completing questionnaires to evaluate eating habits and by medical examinations. What emerged was that those who most consumed foods containing added sugars, getting up to 25% of their daily energy from these sugars, also had an 88% increase in the risk of developing kidney stones compared to those who consumed a limited amount of these foods, reaching a maximum of 5% of daily energy from these sugars.
ConclusionsBoth researches underline how important it is to ensure a healthy and balanced diet, reducing as much as possible processed foods limiting both sweeteners and added sugars. It is therefore a good choice to always read the label carefully when you want to buy a food. Be careful, however, in the case of added sugars these can appear with various names, such as sucrose, corn syrup, dextrose and maltose. Then, a clarification is obligatory. Both studies indicated that harmful effects, with an increased risk of obesity from sweeteners and kidney stones from added sugars, occur over the long term and when intake is regular. So some exceptions to the rule can be made from time to time, the important thing is not to overdo it, to ensure that the intake of these substances is not the norm and to be aware of what we eat and drink.
Sweeteners and added sugars, two new studies indicate harmful effects on health
ByAllNigeria
Sep 2, 2023