3 ms·

Is there any artificial sweetener that has been studied to the extent that aspartame has that definitively does not cause cancer? Because, if not, the question

Is there any artificial sweetener that has been studied to the extent that aspartame has that definitively does not cause cancer? Because, if not, the question isn't between aspartame or some other interchangeable artificial sweetener, but between aspartame and HFCS or regular sweetener, which I strongly suspect contributes more deleteriously to health via obesity than aspartame does via possible carcinogenic affect. The thing is, I'm okay with governmental bodies regulating substances (not necessarily the WHO, but that's a different story), but you need to balance different factors including substitution when you make a decision like this. For example, the EU recently banned topical zinc as ZP in topical formulations (think head and shoulders) due to being a possible topical carcinogen (the evidence suggested it wasn't, but it is a non-topical carcinogen) because interchangeable formulations existed that also worked. Given that it probably isn't possible to subject a substance to the same scrutiny as aspartame without many years of targeted and expensive effort, we're probably just stuck with this sweetener for the foreseeable future.

hunson_abadeer 3y ago
Sugar alcohols such as xylitol and sorbitol are very unlikely to be harmful. That said, they aren't drop-in replacements. Xylitol cools down when it dissolves, so it gives some candy their trademark "cool" feeling, but it's not something you always want. Plus, when consumed in larger quantities, it has a laxative effect.
- gruez 3y ago
  >Sugar alcohols such as xylitol and sorbitol are very unlikely to be harmful According to whom? If people are suspectful of the must studied food substances, why would they trust something that's less studied?
  - hunson_abadeer 3y ago
    Sugar alcohols are abundant in nature and have been a part of our diets for pretty much all recorded history. They are well-understood and probably don't warrant the kind of intensive inquiry that is appropriate for a completely novel synthetic compound, such as aspartame. There are more papers on aspartame than on potatoes, but that's not a reason not to avoid the latter, right?
- boringuser2 3y ago
  Feeding people laxatives isn't exactly a killer answer to this problem. They also still contain calories that you're best off not ingesting. I also found this study that says sugar alcohols cause blood and liver cancer. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7072169/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7072169/ Alcohols generally have been abundant in our evolutionary history and are still terrible for us.
  - dwaite 3y ago
    > Feeding people laxatives isn't exactly a killer answer to this problem. Sugar alcohols aren't laxatives. They have a laxative effect in high quantities (the line seemingly person-specific) Ever hear someone complain after eating the entire bag of sugar-free gummy bears? [0] 0: https://www.amazon.com/review/R2JGNJ5ZPJT4YC https://www.amazon.com/review/R2JGNJ5ZPJT4YC > I also found this study that says sugar alcohols cause blood and liver cancer. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7072169/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7072169/ That isn't what it says at all. Sugar-alcohols occur naturally in the body, and cancer affected liver metabolism to cause it to produce more than normal.
- sgerenser 3y ago
  Well, then there’s the studies on Erythritol that was making the rounds recently: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=34960947 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=34960947
worik 3y ago
> Because, if not, the question isn't between aspartame or some other interchangeable artificial sweetener, but between aspartame and HFCS or regular sweetener, which I strongly suspect contributes more deleteriously to health via obesity than aspartame does via possible carcinogenic affect. That is all true, except there is a choice between sweetened drinks and unsweetened drinks.

hunson_abadeer 3y ago

Sugar alcohols such as xylitol and sorbitol are very unlikely to be harmful. That said, they aren't drop-in replacements. Xylitol cools down when it dissolves, so it gives some candy their trademark "cool" feeling, but it's not something you always want. Plus, when consumed in larger quantities, it has a laxative effect.

gruez 3y ago
>Sugar alcohols such as xylitol and sorbitol are very unlikely to be harmful According to whom? If people are suspectful of the must studied food substances, why would they trust something that's less studied?
- hunson_abadeer 3y ago
  Sugar alcohols are abundant in nature and have been a part of our diets for pretty much all recorded history. They are well-understood and probably don't warrant the kind of intensive inquiry that is appropriate for a completely novel synthetic compound, such as aspartame. There are more papers on aspartame than on potatoes, but that's not a reason not to avoid the latter, right?
boringuser2 3y ago
Feeding people laxatives isn't exactly a killer answer to this problem. They also still contain calories that you're best off not ingesting. I also found this study that says sugar alcohols cause blood and liver cancer. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7072169/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7072169/ Alcohols generally have been abundant in our evolutionary history and are still terrible for us.
- dwaite 3y ago
  > Feeding people laxatives isn't exactly a killer answer to this problem. Sugar alcohols aren't laxatives. They have a laxative effect in high quantities (the line seemingly person-specific) Ever hear someone complain after eating the entire bag of sugar-free gummy bears? [0] 0: https://www.amazon.com/review/R2JGNJ5ZPJT4YC https://www.amazon.com/review/R2JGNJ5ZPJT4YC > I also found this study that says sugar alcohols cause blood and liver cancer. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7072169/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7072169/ That isn't what it says at all. Sugar-alcohols occur naturally in the body, and cancer affected liver metabolism to cause it to produce more than normal.
sgerenser 3y ago
Well, then there’s the studies on Erythritol that was making the rounds recently: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=34960947 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=34960947

worik 3y ago

> Because, if not, the question isn't between aspartame or some other interchangeable artificial sweetener, but between aspartame and HFCS or regular sweetener, which I strongly suspect contributes more deleteriously to health via obesity than aspartame does via possible carcinogenic affect. That is all true, except there is a choice between sweetened drinks and unsweetened drinks.