What Are The Benefits And Dangers Of Artificial Sweeteners?

Artificial sweeteners have been around since the early '80s and since then more than seven different varieties have sprung up. They manage to pack the same level of sweetness that sugar has in a much smaller package. While artificial sweeteners seem like a great solution on the outside for dropping the amount of calories you consume and lowering the risk of diabetes, they may confuse your body and lead to some serious headaches.

Reduce Caloric Intake

The main benefit of artificial sweeteners is the calorie reduction in the items containing the artificial sweeteners. While most of the different sweeteners aren't much lower in calories than sugar they are much sweeter. Aspartame is 200 times sweeter than sugar, saccharine is 300 times sweeter and sucralose is 600 times sweeter than sugar. Since the artificial sweeteners are so much sweeter than sugar is they are needed in much lower quantities and that lowers the calorie levels drastically.

Reduce Diabetes Risk

A study conducted by the Harvard School of Public Health shows that consuming artificial sweeteners in place of beverages sweetened with sugar will reduce your chances of getting type 2 diabetes. The study followed 40,000 healthy men during a period from 1986 to 2000 and the research showed that the men who consumed artificially sweetened drinks were 16 percent less likely to get type two diabetes than the men drinking beverages sweetened with sugar.

Aspartame Induced Headaches

A study conducted by Headache --- a journal that tracks causes of head and face pain --- shows that aspartame can cause headaches. The theory behind the evidence is that the phenylalanine that is in aspartame negatively affects neurotransmitters, leading to a very painful headache.

Reduced Ability to Track Calories

Your body has the ability to keep track of how many calories are being consumed based on the sweetness of the food. When artificially sweetened food or beverages are consumed the body loses its ability to track calories and you will ultimately end up eating more calories than you would. A study performed in 2008 by Susan Swithers and Terry Davidson from Purdue University shows this principle in action. Two different groups of rats were fed a sweetened liquid. One group ate a liquid sweetened with a normal high calorie sweetener and the other had a low calorie artificially sweetened liquid. Ten days after starting the experiment the rats were allowed to have a chocolate flavored snack. The rats eating the artificial sweetener ate more chocolate than the other rats.