Alcohol sugar and splenda are they bad for you

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Permalink Reply by Nicole Marquard on February 5, 2010 at 1:40pm

Sugar alcohols and artificial sweeteners are not "bad" for you, but remember "everything in moderation."
Sugar alcohols are actually naturally occurring, and are derived from berries and fruits. The reason they are called alcohols is because their chemical structure is very similar to that of alcohol, except minus the ethanol, haha! In comparison to sugar they are better for you, because they contain less calories and demand little or no insulin to be metabolized. On the other hand, they do cause small changes in blood glucose level caused by the carbohydrates they contain. Artificial Sweeteners have zero calories and carbohydrates so they don't cause blood glucose to elevate!

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Permalink Reply by Matt Reile on February 5, 2010 at 1:44pm

Is that really the case? I have heard conflicting information on this. I believe that you are right in the fact that moderation is the key. I have heard though that the artificial sweeteners, while they may not have the calories, your body still sees it as sugar and chemical processes still occur in a similar fashion to sugar...so is it really helping to consume the artificial sweeteners versus real sugar if you are following the moderation principle? Just curious...not questioning your judgement. I would like to hear what others have to say as well. This is a good topic.

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Permalink Reply by Nicole Marquard on February 6, 2010 at 11:44am

Actually aspartame is metabolized similar to a protein because it breaks down into amino acids. It does have the same energy value as sugar, but it is used in very small amounts compared to real sugar so that is why it is "calorie free".

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Permalink Reply by skip fell on August 1, 2010 at 3:05pm

One would expect that drinks with non-caloric sweeteners would promote weight loss, but epidemiological studies have found that consumption of diet soda is associated with the development of metabolic syndrome.[1] The ingestion of non-caloric sweeteners dissociate the sensation of taste as a predictor of the caloric or nutritive content of food. Experiments have found that reducing the correlation between sweet taste and the caloric content of foods using artificial sweeteners in rats resulted in increased caloric intake, increased body weight, and increased adiposity.[2] The results suggest that consumption of products containing artificial sweeteners may lead to increased body weight and obesity by interfering with the fundamental equilibrium of physiological processes mediated by taste receptors.

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