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When I was in undergrad, a Cog Psych professor told me a story about an undergrad who made a poster for a regional research conference of no real consequence ab
by ryanferg 4y ago
When I was in undergrad, a Cog Psych professor told me a story about an undergrad who made a poster for a regional research conference of no real consequence about the correlation between diet soda drinking and some recall task. The study and the conference were more about teaching students about research more than actually finding anything. When he and his student showed up to the conference, a representative from a low-cal sweetener producer was there, and proceeded to spend the entire conference standing next to the poster refuting the obviously amateurish research. He said for years afterwards, he'd still get mail and faxes about new research that disproved any link between fake sugar and memory problems.
All of that being said, I don't know if there is a substance that we consume that has had more research done on it than artificial sweeteners. For every study like this, there are other studies disproving them, etc. If there is an effect, the effect size is small, and I'm not convinced there is anything there. Also, I'm drinking a Diet Coke right now and in another life I was an Alz researcher so maybe I really want it to not be there.
- bee_rider 4y agoHas there been a suspected artificial sweetener/memory issue link for a while? I could see them wanting to refute it if there were fluoride-like not very well founded concerns. Otherwise that is insanely suspicious, to the point of parody.
- lotsofpulp 4y ago> If there is an effect, the effect size is small, and I'm not convinced there is anything there. Even if there is, apparently sugar is doing much more damage.
- TillE 4y agoYeah, that's my main takeaway from the general body of research. Sugar is awful for you in a million well-known ways. Most artificial sweeteners are, at worst, far better for your health. I'm a big fan of erythritol for most purposes.
- jrootabega 4y agoI guess it's good that the sugar industry has enough money to fund studies of artificial sweetener and vice versa.
- xattt 4y agoHow about developing enough self-control to avoid both products altogether?
- jrootabega 4y agoI've been good at avoiding money and studies.
- SQueeeeeL 4y agoBlaming individuals in these scenarios is always strange to me, people mostly trust that the items they can purchase won't harm them. It's an immense burden to saddle the consumer with endless research of every product they purchase, on top of their usual time needs from work, commute, family.
- pengaru 4y ago> people mostly trust that the items they can purchase won't harm them The state of California has made it abundantly clear that practically everything you can purchase there will harm you.
- thfuran 4y agoNo, what it has made abundantly clear is that poor incentives produce poor outcomes. There's significant penalty for underlabeling with regard to the known to cause cancer business and no penalty for gratuitous labeling. So every damn thing gets labeled to minimize potential liability and now carcinogenicity is a joke.
- SQueeeeeL 4y agoWait, a mysterious man showed up to an impactless meeting to basically embarrass the hell out of an aspiring undergrad research and your immediate reaction wasn't "Oh shit, these people are probably trying to cover something up." Cause that's my immediate reaction, sounds similar to the cigarette industry in the 60s
- Taywee 4y agoI think that's a strong reaction. Corporate damage control and prevention of profit loss will look pretty much the same whether they're covering something up or just correcting the record. If there's a threat to profits, an industry and corporation will usually attempt to prevent or attack it regardless of any connection to the truth.
- mandmandam 4y ago> "just correcting the record" If that phrase isn't triggering your alarm bells, I don't know what to tell you... > "If there's a threat to profits, an industry and corporation will usually attempt to prevent or attack it regardless of any connection to the truth." Oh okay, you do get it lol. The thing is though, it doesn't have to be like this. We allow it to be at our own mortal peril, and that isn't even remotely hyperbole.
- Taywee 4y ago"Correcting the record" isn't inherently malicious, and a company attacking something does not indicate a likely cover up. That reasoning is overly cynical and fallacious. I'm no fan of corporations or overlarge industries (and their respective lobbyists), but the way I see them is like large organisms. They are neither good nor evil, simply consumed by self-preservation and the drive to thrive.
- walleeee 4y agoquestions of good and evil aside, these sorts of organisms have subsumed human beings into a new composite apex predator paperclip maximizers are real, they're made of code and people
- spookthesunset 4y ago> All of that being said, I don't know if there is a substance that we consume that has had more research done on it than artificial sweeteners MSG? ... MSG is probably a close second...