Some artificial sweeteners may be linked to heart disease, a new study says

A study appearing in the British Medical Journal found that no- or low-calorie food additives are associated with cardiovascular diseases.

The researchers examined three forms of artificial sweeteners: aspartame, acesulfame potassium, and sucralose. Artificial sweeteners were examined from all dietary sources, including drinks, tabletop sweeteners, and dairy products. According to the study, sucralose and acesulfame potassium were connected to a higher risk of coronary heart disease, whereas aspartame was linked to an increased risk of cerebrovascular events.

Of course, Big Artificial Sweetener is disputing this study.

Earlier studies have looked into artificially sweetened drinks and the risk of cardiovascular disease, they said, but none measured artificial sweetener intake from a person's overall diet.

So, the investigators analyzed dietary records from 103,000 participants, most of them female, averaging 42 years old. They were drawn from the NutriNet-Santé study, a project launched in France in 2009 to explore the relationship between nutrition and health.

Overall, more than a third -- 37% -- of the study's participants consumed artificial sweeteners, a news release said.

Their average intake was about 42 milligrams daily, equivalent to roughly one individual packet of table top sweetener or 100 milliliters, just shy of 3.5 ounces, of diet soda. So-called "higher consumers" averaged closer to 78 mg. per day.

The International Sweeteners Association, a nonprofit group based in Brussels, Belgium, representing "suppliers and users" of artificial sweeteners, issued a statement Thursday on the French study, saying "there is no causal evidence that low/no calorie sweeteners could increase the risk of cardiovascular diseases."

Some artificial sweeteners may be linked to heart disease, study says

I would have liked to add the study to this thread, but it is behind a paywall.

Government regulations on sweeteners and caloric content have lead to most soft drinks in Mexico having this garbage in then. They'll reduce sugar content then boost the sweetness by adding this alongside the sugar or HFCS.

I don't drink many sugary drinks - now usually opt for water flat or carbonated - but first started noticing that when I did, they often left me feeling off. I started looking at ingredients and learned that the artificial sweeteners were being used.

That crap actually has an almost immediate effect on me, making me feel woozy and sometimes even causing headaches. Poison, all of it. Now days I try to use raw brown sugar if I need a sweeter.

Nutrition has been my passion for over a decade. Its a crime when you look at what is regarded as "safe" by government. First thing you should do before you eat anything is look at the Added Sugar amount, if over 4 grams then dont eat. Next look at the ingredients, if any preservatives, dyes, or chemicals then dont eat. Follow those two rules and youll be feeling much better.

a reply to: incoserv

I have also turned to brown sugar. 👍🏻

I avoid artificial sweetners as I learned in my early 20s they give me migraines.

20 years free of debilitating migraines, 20 years free of artificial sweetners.

a reply to: GenerationGap
Same except i was very young

The taste of them makes me feel nauseated now probly because every time I ate them I would end up in the shower puking

It's not really surprising it causes heart problems the migraines is a well known thing and migraines are normally related to cardiovascular problems

Never liked the taste of those things. They have a distinct chemical edge to them. The closest I get is an electrlyte mix sweetened with Stevia.

a reply to: incoserv

I'll have to look into that. I'll rarely have a soda, but it's a Mexican coke when I do. The ingredients say sugar. I hope that's what it is. Thanks for bringing that to my attention. 

a reply to: MPoling

I had always eaten minimal processed foods. My mom was big into health and nutrition. I rarely had anything that was sweetened as a child, and I continued that into adulthood. I'm lucky to have never really developed a sweet tooth.

I know people who have eaten huge amounts of sugar every day since childhood, and they have various illnesses associated with it now. It is very difficult for people to get off of sugar, too.

I have one with severe RA that frequently flares up into something completely unbearable. I keep telling them to stop eating so much sugar, but they always come up with a variety of excuses for why they haven't stopped eating so much of it. It may or may not help their RA to limit sugar intake, but there is a good chance that it would. They are fearful of being bedridden again, but sugar wins.

a reply to: VierEyes

We only have brown sugar at home, too. It's really only used if I feel the rare urge to do some baking and I add a fraction of the sugar called for in the recipe.

a reply to: GenerationGap

I'm glad that you were able to recognize the problem and stop. So many cannot do that.

a reply to: ketsuko

I've tried Stevia before, but we just don't use that much sugar or sweeteners in general. There was an initial FDA study that showed a slight correlation with cancer and reproductive problems, but then they found it doesn't. Further research has shown that when used instead of real sugar and other artificial sweeteners, it better controls blood sugar in diabetics and weight loss. I imagine, like anything, eating the daily recommended serving or less will not likely cause health problems, but eating too much of it probably will.

Did some research years back on Sodium cyclamate and it appears that it only caused health problems when consumed around the same time as aspartame so with the aid of some high ranking health people they banned sodium cyclamate while leaving the aspartame be used in the USA. Sodas with Sodium cyclamate tasted way better than the ones with nutrasweet.

Because they have had few health problems with cyclamates in countries that use them they are again considering allowing it here....but it will still interact with other sweeteners that are in a bunch of things so since I cannot avoid those, I will stick to sugar since I don't care for sweet anyway.

Not only the heart, some of those artificial sweetners are hard on the kidneys and some can cause symptoms of fatty liver disease some how...they seem to have the same effect as too much sugar that way.

I do run across occasional medical scientific articles on the artificial sweeteners once in a while but it seems that you cannot get access to the research without paying for viewing meaning they are being kept from the general public by someone scarfing up the research then hiding it from the majority of the middle class and lower. I think some big companies fund these businesses or organizations that work with multiple businesses that buy up research to sell it instead of it being free to view for everyone.

Not sure if that is what happening, but if I were a big corporation producing something I would probably do something like that. I myself am not deceitful like that though, Being rich does not impress me because my name is Richard. I choose to go buy Rick because I do not want people thinking I am Rich when I am not.

a reply to: tamusan

I'm not worried about this. It's barely sweetened, and I don't use it for anything else. If I'm having something sweet, it has sugar in it.

a reply to: rickymouse

Here you go, I found a way to link to the study from my OP that should bypass the paywall.

Artificial sweeteners and risk of cardiovascular diseases: results from the prospective NutriNet-Santé cohort