Artificial Sweeteners Safety Facts
Modern chemistry has created several different artificial sweeteners. Some people love these food additives because they create a sweet taste without sugar. Therefore they do not contribute any calories to the person’s diet. That is why many of the sweeteners are used in diet foods and drinks. But there have been some questions regarding the safety of these compounds. Some even ask if there is such thing as a safe sweetener. Two of the chemicals that people have been concerned about are xylitol and aspartame. These have been in the market for some time and are generally regarded as safe by the Food and Drug Administration. But many people think they are responsible for a host of different problems, from obesity and weight gain, to neurological problems and cancers. The food industry denies that there are any issues with these products and the studies that have been performed are not of the best quality. Therefore it is difficult to know what to do in the current situation.
The aspartame sweetener has been the subject of intense scrutiny over the last several years. It was originally proposed for use in the 1970s and since then it has come up on the food danger radar screen every couple of years. It was originally created by G. D. Searle company from Omaha, Nebraska, which is now part of Pfizer. The chemical was finally approved in 1980 and has been sold under the name Equal and NutraSweet for many years. The breakdown products of the aspartame sweetener contain phenylalanine, there people with phenylketonuria should not use this product. Several food activists opposed the chemical saying that it caused cancer in rats. In order to prove its safety, hundred of studies have been conducted on the chemical. The summary of the evidence seems to indicate that the product is safe to use and doe not have any long term effects.
The xylitol sweetener gets its name from the Greek name for wood. It is combined with the suffix for sugar alcohols. Xylitol is a sugar alcohol sweetener that is used as a naturally occurring sugar substitute. It can be found in fibers of many fruits and vegetables, including various berries, corn husks, oats, and even mushrooms. It can be made from from corn fiber, birch, raspberries, plums, and corn. Xylitol is about as sweet as sucrose but contains only two-thirds the food energy calories. Similar to most sugar alcohols, initial consumption of the chemical can result in bloating, diarrhea, and flatulence. But the effect of xylitol is generally less than other sugar alcohols like sorbitol. Xylitol is considered to be a safe sweetener as there have not been any studies that show it causes health problems in human or animal studies.
While it is good that people have concerns about chemicals interacting with the human body, the compounds need to be studied scientifically. The Food and Drug administration attempts to study the compounds as much a possible before making them available to the public. These artificial sweeteners have been tested extensively and should generally be considered to be safe.