The other side of reducing sugar in foods

Now of course we have the dangers UPFs, Ultra Processed Foods.

My rule has always been to cook from scratch, stick to simple ingredients and avoid, to quote a saying, 'anything containing ingredients that your grandmother would not recognise.'

:30icanhandthemback

Anything with carbohydrates in has “sugar” in it. Fruit, spuds, pasta, all add sugars to your system. The trick is to limit carbs and eat more protein. Whoops, that’ll mess up your cholesterol.
Anything with salt, bad for you. Anything with sugar, bad for you. Anything tasting vaguely alcoholic, bad for you. Salad? Maybe but beware of that pesky dressing! Eggs? Cholesterol, so bad for you. Cheese? Pure fat, bad for you. Cake, biscuits? Don't even say the words.
I'm getting to the point where I feel guilty as soon as anything passes my lips.

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The NHS link above returns a result stating that the page has been retired!

It's always wise to follow up statements about research by investigating who has paid for the research. Tobacco companies have long paid for research apparently proving that smoking doesn't cause lung cancer.

The jury is still out on artificial sweeteners:
"Aspartame: Decades of Science Point to Serious Health Risks" usrtk.org/sweeteners/aspartame_health_risks/

I always wonder about these fake sugars which are invariably sweeter than the real thing. Having been to a sugar cane farm I can see sugar is a natural product but, like anything else, moderation is the best policy.

I was thinking of starting a new thread about avoiding drinks and anything else with artificial sweetener.

I found this thread.

Got a heads up that it had not been posted on for over a year.

In fact not for over two years - in the days before the pandemic - remember them?

So, new thread or

BUMP

Reading the NHS report in detail. It is commendably and fairly reported and does make clear the many limitations of the research. In fact the limitations are so many, I am not sure why the research took place, still less why it was published.

However Gold standard the sample selection was. No research seems to have been done into the amount or pattern of consumption of those reporting aspartame triggered symptoms and the research does not replicate their experience.

A bit like measuring the health effects of smoking by giving participants one cigarette a week to smoke.

If you say so Monica

M0nica, it was only a small sample as well. I know people who avoid aspartame because they used to get regular migraines when they were drinking diet drinks. When they gave them up, their migraines disappeared. It could be coincidental but they couldn't pin point anything else and when they have aspartame unbeknown to them, they get a migraine.

Anja that study showing that there is no such thing as aspartame sensitivity.

The study showed nothing of the sort. It showed no sign of aspartame sensitivity among those consuming a cereal bar containing aspartame once a week - and the study is titled Research casts doubt on aspartame sensitivity

It is sweeping statements made by those who have not read properly or have chosen to misunderstand careful research that give statistics such a bad name.

I read the article. But found the study unconvincing because it gave participants only one cereal bar a week containing aspartame.

I can eat the occasional product containing aspartame without any effect. I developed headaches when I began using aspartame regularly as an alternative to sugar, which is an entirely different scenario and the one most associated with aspartame induced headaches.

When I decided to immediately eliminate all sweeteners from my diet the headaches disappeared within a week. The two events were so closely linked, I can think of no other explanation for the headaches clearing other than that i was no longer consuming aspartame.

At the time I was unaware of any link between aspartame and headaches and didn't find that out for several years.

DH is type 2 diabetic, and has been advised multiple times to use sweetener rather than sugar. We always tell them we don't agree!!!

Thank you Saetana for posting that study showing that there is no such thing as aspartame sensitivity.

Well done.

Check out this article on NHS Choices about a recent study into Aspartame sensitivity www.nhs.uk/news/food-and-diet/research-casts-doubt-on-aspartame-sensitivity/

I'm baffled as to why so many brands of toothpaste contain artificial sweetener. It's disgusting and leaves a vile taste behind - not really a desirable result of cleaning one's teeth.

Legs have you looked at the low carb thread?

I'm Diabetic Type 2 , advice is not to replace sugar with sweetners. Fruit is high in sugar so I'm restricted to 2 portions per day (apple, banana are 1 portion each, handful of grapes or 2 plums) also beetroot, parsnip & sweetcorn are high in sugar too. I have 2 cups of coffee per day, maybe 3 in the Winter, 1 in the Summer with 2 tsps of sugar coffee doesn't hit the spot without sugar I've tried to cut down but I find it almost impossible. I don't have a "sweet tooth" preferring savoury. I rarely buy a ready meal preferring to cook from scratch but also find it almost impossible to lose weight

I like my sugar in alcohol

sorry - that should be that they don't legislate for reduced sweetness

ie taxing sugar and allowing sweeteners means foods are just as sweet and our cravings for sweet things continues

Fennel

our bodies are designed to crave high energy difficult to obtain (in nature) sugars and carbohydrates - we haven't changed much since we walked everywhere and getting honey was a challenging and difficult operation.
Now we are largely seated and static and carbs and sugars are cheap and easily available but the craving is still active

Typical Tory fudging:

don't have a clean air act - ban smoking and leave other dangers in place (eg gangs work in the London underground without masks and come up black and choking, but they aren't allowed to smoke because it's unhealthy)
don't legislate for reduced sweeteners - tax sugar and allow sweeteners which have the same diabetes causing effects and are contraindicated for may illnesses

Morgana I think you'll find that "original" Vimto, like "original" Ribena now contains Acesulfane K, an artificial sweetener. Neither are the original formula at all.
Artificial sweeteners give me a hangover so I am always reading labels.

Is sweet food addictive?
Where we live there's a high rate of obesity. every other person you see is carrying some kind of drink in their hand. And probably most of the drinks are sweetened.
Or some snack food probably with added sugar (or the other one.)

I like Vimto, which has a no artificial sweeteners version, although I must now check to see if it contains fructose. We avoid aspartame as it gave my husband terrible leg pains. Very bad for you!

SarahellenW.... artificial sweeteners also make me feel quite ill with stomach cramps and the need for the loo, quickly. I drink water and a few cups of coffee a day. The first cup of the day always has one lump of sugar in it and afterwards no sugar. I tend to drink a lot of milk as a cold drink.