Heart of the Matter

Let Me Call You SWEET Heart...

Can sweeteners stimulate your appetite and are they a health hazard?

Sugar is expensive, at least when you buy it by the ton. So if you are a soft drink maker or a donut maker you might consider looking for alternatives. Wa la!  Born the artificial sweetner and corn syrup  industry.

Artificial sweetners are expensive to make but up to 200 times sweeter tasting than sugar so a little goes a long way toward sweetening your diet soda. Corn syrup or high fructose corn syrup as the processed form is  known is just about as sweet as sugar but, due to US government subsidies to corn growers and high tariffs on imported sugar, is much cheaper. Since the mid-80's when HFCS was first used by Coke and Pepsi, its use has skyrocketed. An editorial in the Archives of Internal Medicine this week stated that currently 20% of carbohydrate intake and 10% of all calories consumed by Americans is from HFCS!

The questions are: do these sugar alternatives contribute to obesity or to other health issues?

This has been heavily debated in the lay, internet and medical literature. The sum on ‘other health issues' (i.e. cancer and heart disease)  is that in 25 years no convincing evidence has come forward that there are cancer or other health risks from artificial sweetners. Skeptics still say the definitive study has not been done and feel there is a coverup. Indeed the original FDA approval of aspartamine was provided by Ronald Regan for his buddy Donald Rumsfeld's company G.D.Searle without any independent studies on safety. Fortunately for the rest of us there have been no obvious health risks identified. They do contribute to your appetite for sweet things. High intake increases your insulin levels and may make you hungry sooner. Paradoxically, they may contribute to obesity.

How about HFCS, does it contribute to obesity?

In the same issue of AIM (July 28, 2008) researchers reported from Boston University that eating HFCS sweetened beverages increased weight and the incidence of diabetes in African American women. It didn't matter if they drank soda or fruit juices. This is no surprise since virtually all, ‘healthy alternative' and ‘all natural' fruit drinks like Frutopia, Nantucket Nectars,  Gatorade,  Snapple, Newman's Own Lemonade, etc.,etc.,etc. have HFCS as their second ingredient, after water and an insignificant amount of actual fruit juice.  They act nutritionally like expensive soda. The incidence of diabetes and increased obesity in these women of 25-31% was directly related to the amount of HFCS in their diet.  It appears that drinking sweetened drinks made them fatter and gave them diabetes.

The bottom line:

we are eating increasing and shocking amounts of corn syrup. It is definitely contributing to the obesity epidemic. It can give you diabetes. There is no good reason to drink these products. We would be better off making alcohol from the corn for our cars or feeding the world's hungry. As an alternative, try water! It is healthy, all natural (well, mostly) cheap and won't rot your teeth or make you fat or give you diabetes. As for sweetners, they contribute to an appetite for more sweet things and maybe for food in general. Like salt we should save this taste for special treats not make it the flavor of every meal.