Articles by Dr. Erdman are for informational purposes, and are not to be taken as specific medical advice.
How many of you think you are doing yourself a favor by
reducing calorie intake with artificial, no calorie sweeteners? You know the
pink, blue, yellow, and now green packets. Advertisers entice people to use
artificial sweeteners as a means to lose weight. Did you know it doesn’t really
help at all? Would you believe it actually makes you fatter? Studies show that
artificial sweeteners have adverse consequences, including tricking the body
into desiring MORE calories. Plus, the long list of side effects connected to
them just doesn’t make sense for your health. This week, we’ll look at the ones
you should avoid, and in the next article we will cover what you can safely use
as alternate sweeteners.
First, to prove my point above, a study by the University of
Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio, presented this report at an
American Diabetes Association meeting. Diet sodas are not a “guilt free” treat
at all. After following 474 diet soda drinkers for 10 years, they found that
their waists grew 70% more than those who drank non-diet sodas. For those who
drank 2 or more diet sodas a day, their waists increased, on average, over
500%. Waist size indicates the amount of fat at your organs, which is strongly
linked to type II diabetes.