To not understand why tons of people believe artificial sweeteners are more harmful than sugar?

[HavelockVetinari]

There is no scientific evidence to back up the various claims that it's addictive, carcinogenic...etc. Yet I'm always reading posts on social media that disparage sugar-free drinks as dangerous and harmful to health, without a shred of evidence being offered.

I do understand that some people dislike the taste (so-called 'supertasters' apparently experienced a bitter aftertaste) but that doesn't make it harmful!

What does anyone achieve by being so dismissive of other people's preferences?

I do find them hard to avoid.
I read ingredients but not everyone in my family does.
Recently they've come home in yogurt, juice drink, crisps, vegan Worcester sauce.

They're in cider which doesn't list ingredients AFAIK.

Why dismiss that?

I prefer sugar because artificial sweeteners taste shit. No more or less scientific than that.

I bought some Waitrose lemonade the other day, the kind with actual lemon juice in, rather than the clear sort. I haven't had any yet but I'm hoping it's going to be the new San Pellegrino replacement.

Yabbers why are you so bothered that other people dislike sweeteners and prefer to avoid them if at all possible? How does it affect you?
Oh yeah and I don’t drink gin, because it gives me a headache.

It's amazing how some people can't grasp the fact that now most soft drinks manufacturers have introduced sweeteners to the majority of their soft drinks range that this means there are now fewer sweetener free drinks on the market.

I've never been a gin drinker, hate that botanical flavour. Bourbon is my spirit of choice. Straight up with two ice cubes, if anyone's asking.

I love a good g&t (only with sweetener-free tonic, natch), but sadly my opportunities for imbibing sufficient quantity to risk a headache purely from the gin have diminished almost to vanishing point since having DD. Sigh.....

Also, I imagine people who drink gin do so because they like gin. So the benefits are worth the headache to them. The people on here saying they don’t drink artificial sweeteners are generally avoiding them because they cause headaches and they dislike the taste.

Yabbers ffs - the sugar tax means that sweeteners are now in lots of drinks that were previously sweetener free. How many times do you have to be told?

"I see no need to ban them but those of us who can’t or don’t want them should have choices other than water, milk or fruit juice."

I agree completely, @BuggerOffAndAGoodDayToYou - and I would say that the labelling has to be much clearer. If a product that previously didn't contain artificial sweeteners changes its recipe to include them, this should be clearly marked on the front of the product - not just in the fine print of the ingredients - but I don't think manufacturers will want to do that. I suspect that they think putting 'Now Contains Artificial Sweeteners' on the front of their product will put some people off buying it - and they would rather hoodwink us into thinking we are buying the old recipe product.

I think it is great that there is now a far greater range of drinks available for people who need or want to reduce the amount of sugar they drink and who are fine with the taste of the sweeteners. I don't think that it was necessary to reduce the range of drinks available without sweeteners so drastically.

I don't drink out much, but when I do, I drink unflavoured fizzy water - thank god there is no risk of them adding sweeteners to that!!

Sweeteners are not easy to avoid 🙄 As a lot of PPs said, since the introduction of sugar tax, some drinks which previously didn’t contain sweeteners now do. Irn Bru is an example - you can’t get a version with just sugar any more and they all taste crap now. Those who want to avoid sweeteners have less choice now.

To answer the OP, I believe a lot of natural products we consume are better than the artificial ones. Sugar is better than sweeteners, butter better than margarine, a banana is better than a Mars bar, fruit and veg are better than a multivitamin tablet, breast milk is better than formula 💁‍♀️

Probably equally dangerous, both carcinogens.

I wonder how many complaining about chemically sweetners which give them headaches, are avoiding that bottle of wine, or bottle of gin? I can just see it “gin and tonic, but please don’t give me a low cal tonic as it is all chemicals and gives me a sore head”

Ahh but if I drank gin, and it gave me a headache that's fine. I just wouldn't drink gin.

Instead if I fancy a soft drink (cordial/fizzy etc...) I have to scrutinise the ingredients list before deciding whether to drink it or not.

The choice available to me is much more limited than it was a few years ago.

FTR I have been told to avoid plain water as I have a stoma as water alone doesn't contain enough electrolytes etc...

It is easy to avoid them.
No it's not. They're EVERYWHERE (even crisps, sauces and vitamins) and I can taste their disgustingness at the time and for some hours afterwards.

Sweeteners are rank and foods containing them should have to be clearly labelled as such IN BIG LETTERS.

“What people are miffed about is the lack of choice, and how hard they have become to avoid
It’s easy to avoid them.”

It really isn’t!

The waiter in the restaurant I went to yesterday was NOT happy when said I needed to see the ingredients on the soft drink options before I could order any. It turned out that the only non alcoholic drink without artificial sweeteners was tea, coffee or water..... even their milkshakes had artificial sweeteners in! Their ice cream sundaes all contained artificial sweeteners too.

So... by only drinking water I can “easily” avoid artificial sweeteners....

Just to buck the trend, I am a person who has no objection to sweeteners at all - I have spent a lifetime cutting down on sugar by consuming products which are artificially sweetened by aspartame or sucralose, and I find no aftertaste with either of those at all (I'm not a supertaster, but I am a supersmeller ). I can't abide the taste of saccharine or stevia.

I do have IBS and have to be careful of sweeteners ending in "ol".

Interestingly, however, as a PP pointed out, in my lifetime of relying on sweetener in order to reduce sugar intake, I am nevertheless obese...!

I recently experimented with cutting all sugars and sweeteners from my diet, and eating real fats. I didn't lose any weight and there was no discernable reduction in chronic migraine, but I did lose inches.

@Gingervitis so you have chronic migraine, ibs and are obese - three things that people on this thread have linked to sweeteners. Maybe try dropping them for a sustained period?

I'm in France at the moment. The orangina here is delightfully sweetener free. Hurrah.

It’s all a bit strange - artificial sweeteners in everything, fat free this and that yet more people are overweight than ever. Hmmm.
In the 80s we managed to moderate our intake of sugar; artificial sweeteners weren’t needed so much but I think the 24/7 availability of junk food/take aways crept up on us.

DS picked up a bottle of Tango in the shop this morning “look Mum I think you can drink this it says ‘no artificial colours or flavourings’”. The ARTIFICIAL SWEETENERS are hidden in small print!

Yeah I think '‘no artificial colours or flavourings’ is misleading. It would be good if there was an icon that indicated sweeteners so you could tell at a glance.

I have IBS and certain sweetners trigger it.

The chemicals?
Also is there not some evidence that suggests that they trick your body into thinking its taking in something sweet and it still releases insulin? I'm sure I read that or someone told me.

It is rather a labelling fiasco at the minute.

eurochick you need to bring a boatload back for the rest of us. Maybe we could set up a MN cafe speakeasy