Sugar-free drinks are healthy and can help you lose weight.
Text:
People think that sugar-free drinks can be used as a substitute for drinks during weight loss, because they have no calories and can help reduce calorie intake and lose weight. But is this really the case?
Studies have shown that sugar-free drinks may not only be harmful to the human body, but also promote obesity.
Sweetness sources of sugar-free drinks
Sugar-free drinks are sweet and have no calories. Where does the sweetness come from? The answer is: sugar substitute.
Sugar substitute can combine with the sweet receptors of taste buds on human tongue and send a signal to the brain, which makes the brain have the illusion of eating sugar, thus producing sweetness. Some sugar substitutes cannot be digested and absorbed by the human body, so they are zero calories; Some sugar substitutes are much sweeter and have lower calories than sucrose. In the production of food, the use of sugar substitute can greatly reduce the amount of sucrose and reduce the calories contained in food.
There are three kinds of sugar substitutes, natural sweeteners, sugar alcohols and artificial sweeteners. The sweetness of most sugar-free drinks in the market comes from artificial sweeteners, and a few have added natural sweeteners and sugar alcohols.
Effects of sugar-free drinks on human body
Compared with natural sweeteners and sugar alcohols, artificial sweeteners have high sweetness and low cost, and are widely used in food industry. In recent years, it has been found that a large number of artificial sweeteners may affect human health and even increase the probability of obesity.
Have an effect on the stomach
First of all, artificial sweeteners may affect gastrointestinal work. In human trials, taking artificial sweeteners together with glucose can increase the level of GLP- 1 in human body. The biological functions of this hormone include contracting blood vessels, reducing pancreatic exocrine, inhibiting gastrointestinal peristalsis and gastric acid secretion, and delaying intestinal operation.
Saccharin may affect the absorption and permeability of the stomach. In addition, in animal experiments, artificial sweeteners disturb the taste and satiety of experimental animals, leading to an increase in food intake, but there is no direct evidence that this phenomenon has the same effect on human body.
Secondly, artificial sweeteners may affect intestinal microorganisms. In animal experiments, the lowest dose of artificial sweetener (saccharin) increased the number of aerobic microorganisms in rat intestine, decreased the ratio of anaerobic/aerobic microorganisms, and affected the enzyme activity of intestinal bacteria.
In human experiments, the intake of artificial sweeteners can change the microorganisms in the small intestine, reduce people's glucose tolerance, increase the risk of diabetes, and may induce diseases and obesity.
Increase the risk of obesity
In animal experiments, including Stevia rebaudiana, a natural sweetener, the weight of mice, pigs, cows and other animals has increased.
In human experimental investigation, compared with people who don't eat artificial sweeteners, individuals who eat artificial sweeteners (especially drinks containing artificial sweeteners) have significantly increased their body mass index and obesity index.
Individuals who drink artificial sweeteners for a long time not only have the risk of further weight gain and increased abdominal fat deposition, but also have the possibility of obesity when pregnant women drink a lot of drinks containing artificial sweeteners during pregnancy. Intake of carbonated drinks containing artificial sweeteners will increase the risk of obesity by 1.2 ~ 2.08 times within the confidence interval.
Increase the risk of diabetes
Some animal experiments have found that the glucose metabolism in mice is disordered and the glucose tolerance is decreased after ingesting artificial sweeteners. After rats ingested artificial sweeteners, their blood sugar increased significantly and their metabolism was disordered.
In human observation, long-term consumption of artificial sweeteners may lead to changes in related parameters of diabetes risk factors, including weight gain, waist-hip ratio, blood sugar and so on. This phenomenon may be caused by changing human intestinal flora through artificial sweeteners.
Summary:
Although the exact relationship between artificial sweeteners and human health is relatively simple, it has been pointed out that a large amount of artificial sweeteners may change the composition and structure of intestinal flora and increase the risk of obesity and diabetes.
For beauty lovers, it is necessary to carefully consider the cost of intestinal flora and the risk of disease when drinking sugar-free drinks containing artificial sweeteners during weight loss. In addition, it is worth noting that many sugary drinks, in order to save the cost of white sugar, will also add artificial sweeteners to improve the taste. For the sake of health, please control the intake of artificial sweeteners.
References:
[1] TEY S L, SALLEH N B, HENRY J, et al. Effects of aspartame, Mungo, Stevia rebaudiana and sucrose sweet drinks on postprandial glucose, insulin and energy intake [J]. International Journal of Obesity, 20 17,10: 450-450.
[2] Grembecka M. Natural sweeteners in human diet [J]. Roczniki panstwawego zakladu Higieny, 2015,66 (3):195-202
[3] DUBOIS G E, PRAKASH I non-calorie sweetener, sweetness regulator and sweetener enhancer [J]. Annual Journal of Food Science and Technology, 20 12, 3: 353-380DO 1: 10. 1 146/annurevfood-0228 1 1- 10 1236
Suez J, KOREM T, ZILBERMAN-SCHAPIRA G, et al. Discoveries and challenges of calorie-free artificial sweeteners and microbial groups [J]. Intestinal microorganisms, 2015,6 (2):149-155.00/kloc
Sharma a, AMARNATH S, THULASIMANI M, et al. Artificial sweeteners as sugar substitutes: Are they really safe? [J]。 Indian Journal of Pharmacology. 20 16，48(3)237-240。 d0l: 10.4 1030253-76 13. 18288
Garder C, WYLIE-ROSETT J, GIDDING SS, et al. Non-nutritive sweeteners: current use and health prospects. Scientific statement of American Heart Association and American Diabetes Association [J]. Diabetes Care, 2012,35 (8):1798-/kloc-. dol: 10.2337 DC 12-9002
Producer: Su Yixin
Expert: Associate Research Fellow, Institute of Nutrition and Health, China Center for Disease Control and Prevention.