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!

They ruin your gut flora. Thus destroying your health from the inside. They are not 'diet' as the body ends up storing extra fat from foods consumed after. You actively gain weight drinking diet drinks. They are pointless!

Sugar has never given me the shits or a migraine.

Sweeteners have.

I haven't heard the label 'supertaster' before but I also hate the taste of sweeteners and can taste them in any food or drink.

Much harder to avoid now that manufacturers have added them to more products to avoid the sugar tax. Very few dilutable squashes don't have sweeteners in them, for instance. A fizzy drink is one of the few that you can still get a full-sugar version in actually Passthecherrycoke but as products go that's an odd one to pick as being a sugar problem nice user name!

Passthecherrycoke Wed 29-May-19 21:06:31

But were you all drinking significant amounts of full sugar fizzzy drinks before? Because that’s pretty gross in itself

I hate the taste of them too. And it's not bandwagon-y, I'm in my 40s and have hated them since I first tasted them as a child.

I was rarely allowed fizzy drinks growing up so I'm not someone who has spent my life guzzling high sugar drinks. But on the odd occasion when I fancy something other than water, I want it to taste nice.

I don't mind sugar free versions of mints, the mint must be such a strong flavour that it covers up the artificial taste of the sweeteners. But with fruit flavoured things I can really taste the sweeteners and I hate them.

'They are not 'diet' as the body ends up storing extra fat from foods consumed after. You actively gain weight drinking diet drinks. They are pointless!'

Any evidence for this? I read many things saying diet drinks raise your blood sugar levels just like sugary drinks. Then got gestational diabetes and after testing my blood sugar after every meal and at various points throughout the day, it was very evident that diet drinks had no effect on my blood sugar levels at all. I don't believe any of the claims about sweeteners now after that.

BeckyLee - I am a victim of those sweets! Aldi and Lidl also do their own version. Laxative is too kind of a word really - purgative might fit better! They use sucralose which is a well known loosener of the bowels! I like the taste of those but I can't bear aspartame or stevia - both have a horrible fake chemical metallic taste. Disgusting.

I got so annoyed at it being hard to find cordial without that shit in that I started making my own. So easy. And yes, it has quite a bit of sugar in - mainly for the preservative value - but it's highly concentrated so you need very little in a glass of fizzy water.

Incidentally - if you do consume anything with Xylitol in it please be aware that it is lethal to dogs.

My DS13 developed crippling stomach pains. Consultant visit and tests but nothing showed. We pinpointed it to when he started buying water with sweeteners in at school. Took 8 months to 'get him right'. We now avoid sucralose and aspartame. Whenever he does eat something with one of them in, about an hour later gets awful stomach ache again. He's intolerant to the artificial sweeteners. It won't kill him but it does make him uncomfortable for weeks after. I'm the same with cream and mayonnaise. Guess it's down to your body and what it just doesn't like

The list we use to avoid is :

sucralose
saccharine
neotame
advantame
acesulfame potassium-k.
Aspartame

I hate artificial sweeteners - the taste of them is obvious and nasty.

Oh I didn't think about the sugar free calpol issue. Will look at the bottle. Good job he's old enough for normal tablets now. Thanks for the earlier poster that mentioned calpol

Perrier Green apple, is really nice, no sweeteners at all and only 2 calories a bottle.

I’m not a “super taster” whatever that is, but I can’t bear the taste of them. Metallic & chemical.
I was never allowed things with sweeteners when I was growing up (because my mum, a medical professional had concerns they were carcinogenic). I don’t drink many sweet drinks, but if I do I’d rather taste sugar than the horrible fake taste.

OliviaBenson

Same as my DS then

I'm in my mid-forties, and have hated them since I can remember. It's not that I am used to lots of sweet drinks, as I drink them only as a very occasional treat. It's that I don't actually like the taste of the sweetener.

Sweeteners are not flavour-neutral like sugar is. Sugar sweetens without adding any extra flavour. Honey and maple syrup, however, are both very sweet, but also have an additional taste, which individuals may or may not like.

Similarly, sweeteners are not just sweet (if indeed you taste that - I just taste bitter and get very little, if any, sweetness), they have an additional taste on top of the sweetness. Some people like that or don't mind it. Others, like me, absolutely hate it.

I agree that it is very annoying that it is being hidden in so many foods now, and that we are no longer allowed to make a choice as adults.

Shitatscarrble (you win Username of the Night), do you have a recipe for homemade cordial please? I'd be very interested in giving it a bash.

Where do you buy that, please, @bruffin?

Ocado

They taste revolting, completely intolerable.

I wonder if people who think it tastes vile are just used to incredibly sugary things?

Nope, because I rarely drink sugared drinks. I like them - albeit in a slightly sickly way if I drink them in any quantity - but I'm not used to them at all. But if I am given a drink with artificial sweeteners in, they make me feel sick, and the same is true if I didn't know the drink had sweeteners in before I drank it. The aftertaste is just appalling, AND I occasionally get an upset stomach to boot. Regardless of being told they're safe, I'd rather listen to my body saying "DO NOT CONSUME THIS".

And it's not 'band-wagonny' at all, I've never been able to bear the taste of diet drinks. When people claimed it diet coke tasted "just the same" as normal coke, I've always wondered why they can't taste the very stark difference.

Oh, and I completely agree with the frustration of previous posters regarding drinks ruined by sweeteners.

Waitrose used to do a really nice lime cordial, but they replaced the sugar with sweeteners. I didn't even realise so couldn't understand why the drink I'd consumed for years suddenly tasted of rancid plastic. Checked the label and, yup, sweeteners. And the worst thing was that they've refused to listen to all the complaints on their website and refuse to change the recipe back. I'd pay double for it to be the old recipe but I'm denied that choice. So I make my own.

They cause a really bad flair up of IBS for me, so I try to avoid them completely.

I can taste them but I don't specifically dislike the taste, I just dislike knowing that soon I will be curled up in the fetal position with horrendous abdo pain!

People are mentioning stevia, but it isn’t an artificial sweetener, nor is xylitol.

These are sugar substitutes of plant origin. They can cause gut issues like diarrhoea though, and they don’t taste very nice !
I avoid all artificial sweeteners, they taste vile, and as with the margarine debacle, I am wary of artificial replacements for food.

There has been scientific research to show that they stimulate hunger. They’re bloody vile.

In the early 80s NutraSweet (Aspartame) was anecdotally linked to seizures.

We don’t often have sweet drinks at home, but if we do they are usually a juice with fizz, or Rocks cordials, which are delicious. Anyone missing real Ribena should try their blackcurrant.

I know people do booze runs to France but honestly last summer I had every nook and cranny in the car filled with all those glorious full sugar sirops on my way home. I can buy wine at home but that sirop stuff is like gold dust.