Published 25/10/2018, updated 18/09/2023

Sugar and other chemically-designed sweeteners: A systematic review of (>55) medical journals and peer-review studies.

Will arrive the day when bottles and cans of soda, diet soda or caffeine-and-sugar-laden energy drinks will have the same front as a packet of cigarette?

Warning

If your tastebuds and brain are in constant need of sugar, if you experience dips in energy all throughout the day every day; then it is time to look at your sugar intake (if not addiction).

Researchers unanimously agree that sugar is a drug, and coming off it could be as difficult and 'painful' as quitting cocaine. If you need help reducing your consumption of sugar or need more information or a boost in motivation, please contact me today for a free telephonic assessment.

If you have recently been diagnosed with type-II diabetes or an immune condition, and are stressed about your new way of life, I recommend booking a consultation. Most scientific evidence points out that II diabetes can be reversible — if you are willing to make changes. So, let’s make today the starting point.

An immune condition takes years, if not decades to settle in, and might require more work but as Amy Meyer, explains in her books, nothing is impossible 

Type-II Diabetes is a Diet-and-Lifestyle-Induced Condition

If you have seen a health practitioner and he/she is asking for you to take pills for the rest of your life, and you are experiencing several if not all of the side effects – while, not asking you to change your diet or lifestyle –, then the approach is not for you.

You need to understand that you are the only one responsible for your health. Change can be scary, especially if you’re addicted to sugar, but you need to make change happen, and you can do it with the right support. Then, and only then, will you be able to be the hero of your own journey, enjoy a better quality of life and be pain-free.

And, it all starts with your own inner conversations.

Be positive, be open to change, and give yourself a chance! 

What Happens One Hour After Drinking Diet Coke, Coke Zero, or Similar Diet Soda

First 10 Minutes – Deception of Taste Buds and Assault on Tooth Enamel

During this time, phosphoric acid begins its assault on your tooth enamel, while artificial sweeteners like aspartame enter your system. Aspartame may activate taste receptors and deceive your body into believing it has just processed sugar.

Supporting Evidence:

Research, including studies conducted by Swithers and colleagues, suggests that frequent consumption of high-intensity sweeteners may have a counterproductive effect by confusing the body's innate ability to regulate calorie intake based on the perception of sweetness.

[Source: Purdue University Newsroom - 2013]

A report published in the March/April edition of General Dentistry highlights that phosphoric acid in soda can lead to tooth enamel erosion, even with minimal exposure.

Next 20 Minutes – Possible Activation of Fat Storage Mechanism

Similar to regular Coke, Diet Coke can trigger insulin production, prompting your body to enter fat storage mode.

Supporting Evidence:

Artificial sweeteners and sugar alcohols, found in diet colas, can disrupt the natural balance of gut bacteria, which is integral to your immune and digestive system. This insight comes from Amanda Payne at Switzerland's Institute of Food, Nutrition, and Health.

Data from several studies, including the Nurses' Health Study and the Health Professionals Follow-up Study, have reported an increased risk of type-2 diabetes, high blood pressure, heart disease, and metabolic syndrome (related to diabetes and cardiovascular issues) among consumers of artificially sweetened beverages. Some data suggest that those who drink soda regularly may have double the risk of metabolic syndrome compared to non-consumers.

After 40 Minutes – Potential for Addiction

The combination of caffeine and aspartame can create a brief, addictive high reminiscent of how cocaine affects the brain. Excitotoxins are released, which may overstimulate your brain's neuroreceptors, especially with regular consumption.

Supporting Evidence:

Studies show that excitotoxins can easily penetrate specific brain regions and rapidly damage neurons by hyperactivating the NMDA subtype of the Glutamate receptor.

Cravings for more soda are attributed to the release of two neurotransmitters in the brain: dopamine and glutamate.

Caffeine and aspartame have been demonstrated to increase dopamine levels in various studies.

Free-form aspartic acid significantly raises blood plasma levels of aspartate and glutamate.

Researchers suggest that glutamate may play a more critical role in addiction than dopamine.

[Source: The Scientist - 2002]

After 60 Minutes – Nutrient Depletion, Increased Hunger, and Thirst for More

Unlike the modest satisfaction from regular soda, your body may still crave sweetness, leading you to reach for another soda or, worse, unhealthy foods, such as those rich in calories and sugar. A can of Diet Coke offers no nutritional value and may replace a more nourishing beverage, potentially depleting essential minerals from your body.

Furthermore, it does not quench your thirst; instead, it dehydrates your body (it acts as a diuretic). Dehydration can result in symptoms such as brain fog, poor concentration, fatigue, and irritability.

Supporting Evidence:

"Some of the connection to metabolic disease could be related to how people behave by saying to themselves, 'I'm having a diet soda, so this cheeseburger is OK,'" suggests Swithers.

Marisa Peer, a behavioural psychologist with over 20 years of experience in weight loss therapy, and acclaimed as Britain's Best Therapist, also agrees with this statement. She notes that it is common for overweight individuals who consume diet coke to subsequently indulge in high-calorie foods, believing they have compensated for it by choosing a 'diet' drink.

She has this to say about diet sodas and weight gain: “Artificial sweeteners are associated with a drop in the appetite-regulating hormone leptin. Leptin is the hormone that inhibits hunger so diet drinks like Diet Coke actually make you hungry and less satisfied with normal amounts of food, and finally, when you eat or drink a lot of chemicals that your body simply cannot break down, your body makes more and more internal fat to wrap the chemicals in keeping those harmful chemicals away from your vital organs. As Diet Coke has no calories and no recognised ingredients we know it is a cocktail of chemicals that encourage your body to gain and store weight, especially on your legs and bottom away from your organs. diet drinks are not good for your body your health or even as it turns out for dieting.”

​And you thought you knew all about artificial sweeteners and that they are the best alternative to sugar?

If you think that using chemically-made sweeteners is the answer to your sugar cravings, you may have to think about this again.

Research shows that artificial sweeteners have the same impact on blood sugar levels and cause Insulin spikes. And, like chemically-designed drugs, they have side-effects too. Studies have demonstrated that sweeteners can, like refined sugar, be the cause of type-II diabetes and inflammation.

And, here is the proof:

Recent studies have demonstrated that regular consumption of artificial sweeteners causes imbalances and disturbs your gut microbiome (the good gut bacteria), a leading cause of dysbiosis and inflammation, obesity (including, in children), type-II diabetes, and ultimately autoimmune conditions.

This is what we already know about sugar and high-fructose corn syrup.

"Temporal patterns over the past three to four decades have shown a close parallel between the rise in added sugar intake and the global obesity and type 2 diabetes (T2D) epidemics. Sugar-sweetened beverages (SSBs), which include the full spectrum of soft drinks, fruit drinks, energy and vitamin water drinks, are composed of naturally derived caloric sweeteners such as sucrose, high fructose corn syrup, or fruit juice concentrates. Collectively they are the largest contributor to added sugar intake in the US diet. Over the past 10 years a number of large observational studies have found positive associations between SSB consumption and long-term weight gain and development of T2D and related metabolic conditions. Experimental studies provide insight into potential biological mechanisms and illustrate that intake of SSBs increases T2D and cardiovascular risk factors. SSBs promote weight gain by incomplete compensation of liquid calories and contribute to increased risk of T2D not only through weight gain, but also independently through glycemic effects of consuming large amounts of rapidly absorbable sugars and metabolic effects of fructose."

Quote from Vasanti, SM. Frank, BH. (2012). Sweeteners and Risk of Obesity and Type 2 Diabetes: The Role of Sugar-Sweetened Beverages. Current Diabetes Reports. 12 (2), pp 195–203.

Additional Hidden Risks

A can of diet cola can contain anywhere between 44-62 mg of phosphoric acid, excessively more than any other soft drink. Research conducted at Tufts University in Boston unveiled that women who regularly consumed three or more cans of diet cola per day exhibited a four per cent reduction in hip bone mineral density compared to those who favoured alternative soft beverages.

Numerous studies have linked phosphoric acid to decreased bone density, including discussions within the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition. Harvard University experiments have further identified its adverse effects, causing skin and muscle deterioration and long-term damage to the heart and kidneys.

Phosphoric acid is also associated with urinary changes promoting kidney stone formation. Consuming two cans or more cola daily is correlated with an increased risk of chronic kidney disease, attributed to the combination of phosphoric acid, caffeine, and other additives.

As for aspartame, chronic consumption can lead to potentially harmful side effects, though the long-term effects in humans are still mostly unstudied/unknown. Recent animal studies have demonstrated its detrimental effects, particularly on the brain.

Several research studies have revealed the following findings:

Roughly half of the composition of aspartame comprises phenylalanine, which has the potential to traverse the blood-brain barrier, serving as a precursor to catecholamine production in the brain while also being associated with the development of phenylketonuria.

Approximately 40% of aspartame consists of aspartic acid, which acts as an excitotoxin and contributes to oxidative damage in the brain.

Methanol, constituting 10% of the by-products of aspartame, is a hazardous compound that undergoes conversion in the liver into formaldehyde, a neurotoxic and carcinogenic substance.

Luke Miller, an advocate from Truth Theory, presents a unique perspective on this matter, shedding light on the ingredients found within your Diet Coke can, and the revelations are far from favourable.

Current research highlights:

• Similar to sugar-sweetened beverages, artificially sweetened (diet) beverages (ASB) are linked to obesity.

• ASB may increase the risk for diabetes, metabolic syndrome, and cardiovascular disease. 

• ASB may increase the risk of negative outcomes by interfering with learning.

• Reductions in sweetener use, including low-calorie sweeteners, may be warranted

The negative impact of consuming sugar-sweetened beverages on weight and other health outcomes has been increasingly recognised; therefore, many people have turned to high-intensity sweeteners like aspartame, sucralose, and saccharin as a way to reduce the risk of these consequences. However, accumulating evidence suggests that frequent consumers of these sugar substitutes may also be at increased risk of excessive weight gain, metabolic syndrome, type 2 diabetes, and cardiovascular disease. THE EXACT OPPOSITE OF WHAT THEY WANT TO ACHIEVE

This growing body of evidence that echoes these findings and considers the hypothesis that:

“Consuming sweet-tasting but non-calorie or reduced-calorie food and beverages interferes with learned responses that normally contribute to glucose and energy homeostasis. Because of the interference, frequent consumption of high-intensity sweeteners may have the counterintuitive effect of inducing metabolic derangements."

Source: Withers, SE. (2013). Artificial sweeteners produce the counterintuitive effect of inducing metabolic derangements. Trends in Endocrinology & Metabolism. 24 (9), pp. 431–441.

"Epidemiological data have demonstrated an association between artificial sweetener use and weight gain. [...] Eighteen studies were identified. Data from large, epidemiologic studies support the existence of an association between artificially-sweetened beverage consumption and weight gain in children."

Source: Brown, RJ. de Banate, MA. Rother, KI. (2010). Artificial Sweeteners: A systematic review of metabolic effects in youth. International Journal of Pediatric Obesity. 5 (4), pp. 305–312.

"At least daily consumption of diet soda was associated with a 36% greater relative risk of incident metabolic syndrome and a 67% greater relative risk of incident type 2 diabetes compared with nonconsumption. [...] Association between diet soda consumption and type 2 diabetes were independent of baseline measures of adiposity [fatty tissue] or changes in these measures, whereas association between diet soda and metabolic syndrome were not independent of these factors" and concluded: "Although these observational data cannot establish causality, consumption of diet soda at least daily was associated with significantly greater risks of select incident metabolic syndrome components and type 2 diabetes."  

Source: Nettleton, JA. et al. (2009). Diet Soda Intake and Risk of Incident Metabolic Syndrome and Type 2 Diabetes in the Multi-Ethnic Study of Atherosclerosis (MESA). Diabetes Care. 32 (4), pp. 688–694.

"Non-caloric artificial sweeteners (NAS) are among the most widely used food additives worldwide, regularly consumed by lean and obese individuals alike. NAS consumption is considered safe and beneficial owing to their low caloric content, yet supporting scientific data remain sparse and controversial. Here we demonstrate that consumption of commonly used NAS formulations drives the development of glucose intolerance through induction of compositional and functional alterations to the intestinal microbiota. These NAS-mediated deleterious metabolic effects are abrogated by antibiotic treatment." writes Suez, et al (2014. p. 181), adding: "We identify NAS-altered microbial metabolic pathways that are linked to host susceptibility to metabolic disease, and demonstrate similar NAS-induced dysbiosis and glucose intolerance in healthy human subjects. Collectively, our results link NAS consumption, dysbiosis and metabolic abnormalities, thereby calling for a reassessment of massive NAS usage."

Suez, J. et al. (2014). Artificial sweeteners induce glucose intolerance by altering the gut microbiota. Nature. 514, pp. 181–186.

"Since their discovery, the safety of artificial sweeteners has been controversial. Artificial sweeteners provide the sweetness of sugar without the calories. As public health attention has turned to reversing the obesity epidemic in the United States, more individuals of all ages are choosing to use these products. These choices may be beneficial for those who cannot tolerate sugar in their diets (e.g., diabetics). However, scientists disagree about the relationships between sweeteners and lymphomas, leukemias, cancers of the bladder and brain, chronic fatigue syndrome, Parkinson's disease, Alzheimer's disease, multiple sclerosis, autism, and systemic lupus."

Source: Whitehouse, CR. Boullata, J. McCauley, LA. (2008). The Potential Toxicity of Artificial Sweeteners. Workplace Health & Safety. 56(6), pp. 251–261.

“A case-control Canadian study using 480 men and 152 women observed that using artificial sweeteners has a significant dose-response relationship for both duration and frequency of use, putting diabetics at a higher risk (33%) of bladder cancer than the normal population.”

Source: Howe, GR. et al. (1977). Artificial sweeteners and human bladder cancer. The Lancet. 310(8038), pp. 578–581.

Q&As

Q: Do all diet sodas affect our bodies in the same way, such as Pepsi, for example? Or is this information specifically pertaining to Diet Coke?

A: Yes, all diet sodas containing similar ingredients to Diet Coke are likely to produce identical or comparable effects.

Q: In your view, do diet drinks (beverages containing aspartame) pose a greater risk to health compared to sugary drinks and foods?

Various studies tend to agree and demonstrate they are actually considered more detrimental.

A study published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition unveiled some concerning findings:

1. Diet carbonated beverages raised the risk of diabetes more than regular sugary carbonated drinks.

2. Women who consumed a 12oz diet soda had a 33% higher risk of developing type 2 diabetes, while those who consumed a 20oz soda had a 66% increased risk.

3. Women who consumed diet sodas tended to drink twice as much as those who consumed regular sugary sodas, possibly because artificial sweeteners can be more addictive and are up to 1000 times sweeter than regular sugar.

4. On average, individuals who regularly consumed diet sodas consumed three diet drinks daily.

This study meticulously controlled for body weight and still found that artificial sweeteners increased the risk of diabetes independently of body weight.

Correlation versus Causation

The enduring discussion centres around the reliability of claims stemming from correlation and whether correlation inherently implies causation.

In reality, the sole method to conclusively establish causation (i.e., confirming that A directly causes B to occur, rather than merely observing that increasing A coincides with increased B) involves conducting a double-blind, randomized, and placebo-controlled trial.

The challenge lies in the substantial financial resources required to undertake such trials, rendering them accessible mainly to major corporations or exceptionally affluent individuals.

WHO CAN AFFORD TO CONDUCT OR FINANCE SUCH TEST???

The food and pharma industries. HERE IS WHY VERY LITTLE IS DONE unless the public takes action once the truth is out.

Moreover, there exists an ethical dilemma regarding the willingness to expose trial participants to substances that exhibit a significant body of correlational evidence indicating potential harm. This is also why studies on pregnant women are not done, and so, most supplements and tests are always will have a special clause contraindicating their products during pregnancy,

The Choice is Yours

Would you prefer to serve as an experimental guinea pig and continue savouring your beloved beverage, or do you believe it's wiser to seek healthier and more natural alternatives?

Considering the perceived dangers reported by numerous sources and the anecdotal experiences shared by numerous experts, some of them quoted above, are you sure your choices have no impact on health outcomes and your weight?

Alternatives

Here are some healthier alternatives:

1. Opt for soft drinks sweetened with stevia, a natural sweetener, if you absolutely crave a soda.

2. Enjoy plain mineral water infused with fresh lime, lemon juice, mint, cucumber, berries, and a touch of organic honey if you prefer a sweeter flavour. It's a wonderfully healthy and hydrating beverage choice.

3. If you desire a caffeine boost without the jitters, turn to green tea. The L-theanine in green tea counteracts caffeine's negative impact on the nervous system and enhances alpha brain waves.

4. Explore kombucha or kefir. Both are naturally effervescent and Kefir, in particular, provides a dose of probiotics to support better digestion and gut health.

5. Favour nutritious smoothies packed with green vegetables, low-sugar fruits and berries, instead of empty calorie drinks.

6. Enjoy sugar- and sweetener-free concoctions. Many companies now offer herbal cola versions and organic tonic water without the nasties.

Moderation is key. You now know that consuming just one can of soda daily can increase your risk of metabolic disorders like heart disease, diabetes, and obesity, and cause bone problems.

Consider empty-calorie drinks like diet sodas as an occasional treat (for example, at a party or social gathering), and you should be on the right track to better health. But, note that by giving up sugar altogether, you can reset your tastebuds and like many (including myself), you will discover how sickening sweet those drinks are to your brain, even the diet soda.

Luckily, my brother is allergic to phenylalanine and so, we never had soda or diet soda as kids. I think, the only times we were allowed to have a sip were on cinema days, and we would go to the newly opened McDonald’s in the nearest big town. This would happen once or twice a year.
So, if I have survived all these years without soda (my last sip of cola was in 2004 for my birthday), so can you.

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Phenotype Offers New Perception on Cocaine The Scientist Date: 21 Jan 2002

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http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17525693