The Role of Sweeteners in Health and Weight Loss
During the 1980’s, artificial sweeteners exploded into massive popularity. At the time, people were looking for alternative to sugar, which had been blamed for a lengthy laundry list of issues, and diabetes was one of the biggest.
As the end of the 1990’s approached, people began to make some evaluations about the legacy that these once celebrated magic powders was leaving for future generations, and it appeared that sweeteners were no longer the hero of the story they previously had been.
The purpose of the following article is to take a look at the role of sweeteners in health and weight loss.
Gathering the Data
What began as a few questions was soon a growing skepticism. Eventually, nearly 40 different studies were held to determine the effectiveness of these sweeteners. Not only did these sweeteners have to be effective as sweeteners, they were also tasked with being found worthy as effective weight loss management tools.
These studies looked at hundreds of thousands of people to test their reactions, collect observations, and measure individual progress. Each of these studies took place with the absolute adherence to procedure, and researchers were shocked to discover that many of the people in the trials who consumed the sweeteners were found to be at much higher risk for health issues like weight gain and heart disease than those who didn’t.
What Happened?
This new information collected by the doctors had them confounded. At that point all that could be done was to begin testing new theories about why this weight gain, and diabetes had become associated with the sweeteners.
Some possible explanations have questioned as to whether or not sweeteners could be causing some severe form of damage to the gut flora.
Still others believe it could be as simple as people rewarding themselves to extreme amounts while thinking that they haven’t ingested as many calories. Either way, more testing will be need to uncover exactly where things are going and what the status of sweeteners while in the future.
What Now?
A lot of people have begun to back away from sweeteners. Even many experts seem to have an aura of avoidance when it comes to these additives.
When asked, many professionals will simply say that they don’t believe that they are harmful in small amounts, but they believe that it probably would be better to limit how much a person has in general.
