Today we are talking about artificial sweeteners!
We are going to be going over the best and
the worst artificial sweeteners. We will
have a deep dive and expose the information
that is available about all the sweeteners,
good and bad. We will talk about why they
still spike your blood sugar. Or not your,
but in many people it may spike blood sugar and they still
have no calories. How's that?
I'll tell you about some recent research by some artificial
sweeteners as well, somewhere towards the end of this video,
and that will blow your brain cells off. You will be surprised about what you are
going to hear, so stay tuned.
Hi, I'm Dr. Ahmet Ergin.
I'm an endocrinologist, a diabetes and a hormone specialist.
As you know, the food industry loves using various artificial
sweeteners, which are low in calorie content, instead of the
high calorie sugar. So, who else loves them?
Guess what? My diabetics.
You do not have to be diabetic to watch this video, but if
you are, you will for sure be a pro about the sweeteners
and you will be able to choose the right one for your diabetes
and your health. As you know, many sweeteners
still have controversial health and metabolic effect.
So then why do people still use sweeteners?
Well, most sweeteners are sugar substitutes
and they are many times sweeter
than the sugar. It takes a small amount
of these sugar substitutes to provide the same level of sweetness.
Some sugar substitutes are low in calories and then some
others have little to no calories. As a result, there is a perceived
but unproven benefit to using sweeteners, instead of a table sugar.
You can argue all day long whether they are bad or good for
you, which we will talk about. However, at the end of the day,
people have a sweet tooth and occasionally wants to
satisfy that sweet tooth with sweetness instead of real sugar, which I totally
understand, may spike your blood sugar.
If you are strict and "no thank you" kind of guy or "no fun" type of guy or
no fun type of guy. You should just move on
and not watch this video any further. As you know, many of the major goal
or the first goal of the major goal of the diabetes
is to control blood sugar stuff. Right?
So sweeteners sometimes can help that. But unlike sugar,
sweeteners don't contribute to tooth decay either. So there are some benefits to them.
Most of them don't raise blood sugar levels, and yes, some
do, and especially certain ones that we will talk about.
But the research that I will talk about will highlight many
of the important points that you have not known before.
Knowing with sweeteners are best also may be helpful if you
have diabetes, pre diabetes or insulin resistance, let's
start reviewing them one by one. So my first one is Aspartame.
There are two brand names that you're familiar with.
Equal and NutraSweet. They're totally artificial,
meaning it is not natural at all is that combination of two
amino acids which are aspartic acid and phenylalanine.
It gives you 4 calories per gram, which is the same as
sugar. So isn't that insane? Well, wait a minute, but the
Aspartame is 200 times sweeter than the sugar.
Get it? So you use much less aspartame.
Then the sugar and the calories that you use with the aspartame
becomes invisible. Now you will see aspartame
nitration labels of many like yogurt, the chewing gum,
the pudding, the soft rings, and primarily on your table at the restaurant.
So they even use it in medicine, like in the cough syrups and
stuff like that. But do not use Aspartame
when you are baking, it loses a sweet taste when it's heated because
it is not stable in heat at all.
So when it comes to safety, the National Cancer Institute
says that there is no evidence that aspartame and other sugar
substitutes approved for use in the United States cause cancer
or other serious health problems. Medical research studies have shown
the sweeteners are safe for most people when used in moderation.
Well, the question is what is moderation? Some people bake with the sweeteners
and some people use it only one time in their morning coffee,
so that part is a little vague.
Also, they do not say that they won't raise your blood
sugar either, do they? More on that
coming up later. Next on the list is saccharine.
Remember the Sween'N Low? That is saccharine. It is 200 to 500 times sweeter than the sugar,
depending on how you use it.
Similar to Aspartame, it provides around 3.6 calories per gram.
Although as I just said, it is almost 500 times sweeter than
the regular blood sugar. On the downside,
some people may notice a weird metallic after-taste when they consume the saccharine.
And guess what. When you use in processed foods,
they eliminate that after taste by combining saccharine
with another sugar substitute.
Smart. Good thing, you can bake with it.
Not that I recommend doing so, but it is possible. The body
does not break it down so it is absorbed and eliminated by
the kidneys, which is also not a bad thing. There has been a hype around
potential cancer thing with saccharine. However, again,
the warnings have been removed as of year 2021 years ago
after many research showing that that was not the case.
So forget about that cancer story. Okay, what about acesulfame K?
By the way? Next is stevia.
So most of you know I love Stevia, but we'll talk on that
in a second, but this one is also 200 times sweeter than
the table sugar. You may not have heard this one
too often, but manufacturers typically use it
as acesulfame, potassium with sweeteners ,such as Aspartame and sucralose because
of the bitter aftertaste. And acesulfame K is pretty much
can be found in every junk food you can imagine.
So claiming a junk food is low calorie version does just
not make it any better. Right?
Okay. Sucralose is the next one.
Sucralose is 600 times sweeter than the sucrose and has a pleasant,
sweet taste. It's quality and time
tested profile is very close to that sucrose. So no wonder why Splenda is so popular.
Remember that yellow packet? Yep, that is your sucralose.
Sucralose is calorie free, but Splenda also contains
dextrose and a form up glucose and maltodextrin, which kind of
jacks up the calorie content up to 336 calories per gram.
Well, not bad. Still, considering
how much sweeter it is than the sugar per gram, will it spike your
blood sugar more on that coming up in a few minutes.
Stevia the most natural of all the sweeteners, right.
The stevia is a plant, so it must be natural. But here's the deal.
There is a big difference between the stevia you buy at the
grocery store and the stevia that you find in nature.
Stevia products found on grocery store shells such as the
Truvia and so forth. But the Stevia
don't really have the stevia leaf they're made from a highly refined stevia leaf
called Rebaudioside. They shorten it with Reb A.
In reality, most stevia products have very little stevia in
them. But hey, Reb A is 200 times sweeter than the table sugar.
The sweeteners that they make with Reb A are called novel sweeteners
because they're mixed with other sweeteners, such as dextrose,
which is a form of glucose or Erythritol, which is a sugar alcohol
Now you're thinking that stevia products you have been buying
faithfully is not really that natural. Sugar alcohols are
the next topic. Many sugar alcohols
are there in fruits and vegetables. However,
most sugar alcohols are processed from the other
glucose molecules when they become a sweetener,
such as the one in cornstarch.
That makes it a little bit more natural
than the artificial sweeteners because
it comes from corn starch, kind of, sort
of, but also the sugar alcohols are
different than artificial and low
calorie sweeteners, in other ways. Why is
that? Well, sugar alcohols, first of all
whole calories, they're just fewer than
this simple sugar and they're still
considered nutritive. You probably heard
about the xylitol. Xylitol is the most
common and well-researched sugar alcohol.
It is common in chewing gums and oral
care products, etc. Now, xylitol is about
as sweet as regular sugar, but has 40
percent fewer calories. Besides that, it
can give you some stomach upset, if you
consume it in large amounts. But in
moderation, xylitol is fairly well
tolerated. Next is erythritol and
erythritol is another sugar alcohol that
actually has a great taste. And it only
has 0.2 kilocalories per gram compared
to the 4 calories per gram of glucose.
They produce it by fermenting the
glucose in corn starch and it has
70% of the sweetness of the
sugar but only 5% of the
calories. Truvia, which is one of the
popular sweetener brands, has low calorie
sweetener stevia but also has erythritol
as the main ingredient. Erythritol
does not have the same stomach upset
that happens with other sugar alcohols,
because it does not get to your large intestine.
Because it's actually absorbed way
earlier in the small intestine, up to 90
percent and secreted by the kidneys
gracefully. Most importantly erythritol has
little to no effect on blood sugar, and
blood insulin levels. As a result it is
becoming very popular sugar replacement
for diabetics.
Sorbitol has a smooth mouthfeel, which is another
sugar alcohol, and a cool taste. It is 60%
as sweet as the sugar which is
not that sweet with about 40% of the
calories which is not that low. So,
sorbitol is commonly used in the
sugar-free foods and drinks as well and
it has also very little effect on blood
sugar and insulin, but may cause quite a
bit of digestive distress. So, be prepared,
because you'll have to use much more
than the other sweeteners to create the
same sweetness that you desire.
Last but not least on that sugar alcohol
topic is maltitol. It's basically a
processed sugar,
maltose and it has a very similar taste
and feel as the regular table sugar.
Maltitol has 90% of sweetness of
the regular sugar with half the calories.
Not sure if that's great by the way.
A lot of products that has maltitol claim,
they claim, it's sugar-free, but
unfortunately your body absorbs some of
the maltitol and it can lead to blood
sugar spikes. Well, here are some big news
about artificial sweeteners that I
promised you in the beginning of the
video. Are you ready? Let's talk about it.
Recent studies suggest that artificial
sweeteners could actually
raise your blood sugar levels, more than
if you indulge in
sugar sweetened sodas, and desserts.
Wow! What!
That has something to do with your gut. Didn't I
tell you trust your guts before. Well,
researchers found that the saccharine,
for example, which is sweet and low or
even sucralose, which is your glorious
Splenda, and the aspartame which is your
lovely NutriSweet or Equal, raised blood
sugar levels by dramatically changing
the makeup of the gut bacteria. So, what
does this bacteria do anyways? Well,
these lovely bacteria in your intestines
help with nutrition and the immune
system. There are literally trillions of
them. Way more than the total cells of
your body. Actually 4 pounds of your
body weight is bacteria. So, literally we
are, kind of full of, s... Uh.
Okay I won't say, okay.
So, let's see.
How the researchers did the study? Well.
They added the artificial sweeteners
that I just mentioned to the drinking
water of mice. What did they find? Well.
The blood sugar levels of these mice
were higher than those who drank regular
sugar water, after consuming artificial
sweeteners for a while. Also it didn't
matter if they were on low fat or high
fat diet. Sugar rose so much that it was
almost in a diabetic range. Now, these are
mice and we are not.
We are humans. How does this relate to us
in terms of how much sweetener that
affects us? Well, they calculated that actually.
The mice fed with artificial sweeteners
took in a daily amount equivalent to
what humans get in about four cans of
diet soda.
These are artificial sweeteners.
Not necessarily stevia or sugar alcohols.
Can they also change the microorganisms in
the gut? That is
yet to be found out. How do they know
also that it was they actually bacteria
population changes all those glucose
spikes? Well, because after sweetener-fed
mice were given antibiotics to kill
their gut bacteria, blood sugar levels
returned to normal. To take it to the
next level, the researchers transferred
the feces from the mice that drank
artificially sweetened water into
mice that never had. And yes, the blood
glucose also went up in those recipient
mice. Can we apply this
mice situation to humans? Well,
researchers also studied the 400 people
and they found that the gut bacteria in
those people who consumed artificial
sweeteners regularly, differed from those
who did not. People who ate artificial
sweeteners also had a higher fasting
blood sugar levels, which they didn't know.
So, finally they even tested 7
subjects, 5 men and 2 women, who
never used artificial sweeteners at all.
And they tracked their blood sugar
levels while they started using a
maximum daily recommended dose of
saccharin. By the 7th day, blood sugar
levels went up in 4 of the 7
people. When they transferred the feces
from these people to mice, not to the
other people, to mice, the mice blood
sugar also went up, confirming that the
gut bacteria changes were responsible.
Here's a caveat that drinking artificial
sweeteners did not affect blood sugar
levels in all of the mice, or the humans
in those studies, which tells us that
there may be differences in gut bacteria
from person to person, due to genetic
differences. What could be causing this?
Maybe the rest of their diet, maybe
genetics, maybe overall health status, or
even gender. Could be all sorts of
possible explanations. Why some people's
blood sugar will spike and some people's
won't with artificial sweeteners. On the
other hand, perhaps not everybody's gut
bacteria would be susceptible at all to
these sweeteners. So, if you monitor your
blood sugar regularly, which you should,
and find that artificial sweeteners
actually raise your blood sugar. Then,
stay away from it. Simple as that. Well, if
it helps prevent the blood sugar. Go
ahead and use it, right? So, personally I
would recommend using pure stevia or
erythritol as I find them a little safer
than the artificial sweeteners, like your
Splenda and Sweet'N Low and so forth. And
yes, although sugar substitutes have
fewer calories than the sugar, it is
still best to limit them and focus on
healthy food choices. There are a bunch of
fruits, vegetables, lean meals are there,
they're the best sources of nutrition
for your body. Guys, thank you for
watching. Please give a thumbs up, share
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