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Artificial Sweetner Tricks

Artificial sweetener is 200 to 1,300 times sweeter than sugar, according to Stephanie McClellan, M.D., and Beth Hamilton, M.D. The intense sweetness that artificial sugars provide trick the brain and body into thinking that you are eating natural sugars, but in fact you are consuming products that contain little to no calories, sugars or fats.

  1. Moderation

    • As with any type of food substance, artificial sweeteners should be used and consumed in moderation. Due to the high potency of sweetness that artificial sweeteners omit in the body, the body craves more sweet foods and beverages. It also prepares itself to store a lot of fats and calories because the body thinks it is consuming high amounts of natural sugars. In effect, this trick that artificial sweetener plays on the body can have adverse effects, such as weight gain, since it induces hunger and thirst, which is why a moderate dose of the sweetener is optimal.

    Replacement

    • You can use artificial sweeteners in moderation and healthily by adding it to parts of your meals and beverages throughout the day, rather than consuming them all in one sitting. For instance, rather than drinking a diet soda with a sugar-free brownie for breakfast, drink iced tea and sprinkle some artificial sweetener on top of your oatmeal or cereal to sweeten things up. You'll still get that sweet taste from your meal without the calories that maple syrup or brown sugar contain, while consuming the artificial sweetener in moderation.

    Types

    • A variety of artificial sweeteners exist in the marketplace, such as sucralose, saccharin and aspartame, and some consumers have their preferences. If you like a particular artificial sweetener over another type, control your intake of artificial sweeteners by purchasing your preferred sweetener and using it in your baking, rather than purchasing ready-made meals that already contain the artificial sweetener that you don't like. You can make your baked goods taste better when you control the ingredients by baking the meals yourself.

    Considerations

    • There have been disputes over the health safety of artificial sweeteners and whether they have carcinogenic properties. Saccharin was linked to bladder cancer in test rats in the 1970s, according to MayoClinic, and was required to have a warning label printed on the packaging. Scientific research, however, is unable to provide hard evidence that artificial sweeteners are linked to cancer, so the saccharin warning label was dropped by the FDA.

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