In this Article

• What role does sugar play in our diet?
• What is the difference between GRAS foods and food additives?
• What are sugar alcohols?
• Are there any safety concerns with sugar alcohols?
• What are nonnutritive sweeteners?
• Saccharin: What is the positive side?
• Saccharin: What is the negative side?
• Aspartame: What is the positive side?
• Aspartame: What is the negative side?
• Sucralose: What is the positive side?
• Sucralose: What is the negative side?
• Acesulfame K: What is the positive side?
• Acesulfame K: What is the negative side?
• Neotame: What is the positive side?
• Neotame: What is the negative side?
• Is it safe to blend artificial sweeteners?
• Can you get something for nothing?
• Artificial Sweeteners Index

Is it safe to blend artificial sweeteners?

Many people have a preference for a specific sweetener without realizing that numerous products now contain combinations of nutritive and/or nonnutritive sweeteners. The three key advantages for these sweetener blends are:

• Taste: The major limitation to the use of saccharin is its bitter aftertaste. Combining saccharin with other sweeteners helps alleviate this problem.



• Cost: Using combinations of nonnutritive sweeteners can result in a sweeter taste with less sweeteners, saving companies money.



• Flexibility: The ability to combine nonnutritive and nutritive sweeteners can offer people low-calorie choices, along with the no calorie ones.

The blending of sweeteners is presenting a whole new set of problems. Research has not been done, and is not required to be done, on combinations of sweeteners. There is no way to know what happens to the chemicals once they are combined in the products or how they are processed in our bodies in that combination. This is an unnecessary risk that is being taken. The proper procedure would be to require thorough, credible studies on the safety of these combinations before allowing them into our food and medicine. While it would take time and money to conduct these tests, it's clearly a case where it's better to be safe than sorry.

Can you get something for nothing?

Our innate desire for sweetness may be interfering with our ability to judge right from wrong. There is nothing in our diet that we can consume without a cost. The cost can be excess calories, fat, protein, or carbohydrates. It's even possible to consume excess water. We see calorie- and sugar-free sweeteners and believe that there isn't a cost, but maybe there is. Unfortunately, the research that has been done is failing us. With two sides battling over the safety of these sweeteners, it's imperative that we get the answers from the "gold standard" of research studies: independent, randomized, double-blinded, placebo-controlled studies. It's our responsibility to be aware of what we are consuming and to protect our safety.

Acceptable Daily Intakes have been set for each nonnutritive sweetener for a reason; we can't ingest unlimited quantities of these additives. If you believe that you are experiencing any of the symptoms from the consumption of a nutritive or nonnutritive sweetener, then eliminating them from your diet is the best way to determine if it's so. Sweeteners are not essential nutrients in our diet, so they exist to nurture our sweet tooth, not our bodies.

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http://www.aspartame.org

http://www.dorway.com

http://www.neotame.com

http://www.saccharin.org

http://www.splenda.com