In many ways sugar is like a drug. It affects mood, digestion and sleep, and can have a significant impact on cognition. Sugar triggers the brain’s reward system in a similar way to drugs, but much more complicated From “Oreos Are Like Cocaine”. withdrawal Not unheard of, sugar consumption can be compulsive. However, it is not as addictive as heroin or alcohol. A “sucrose use disorder” is not an actual diagnosis like a substance use disorder.
Anyway, society seems to have a problem with sugar. social impactExcessive sugar intake is associated with various health disorders, including obesity and metabolic diseases such as diabetes. cardiovascular damage and tooth decay. But unscrupulous companies make trying to avoid sugar seem impossible. inject unnecessarily Used in foods such as breads, salad dressings, soups, pasta sauces, cereals, tonic waters and jerky.
Avoiding sugar is hard, and for good reason. Sugar is high in calories, but it was much rarer before industrial society turned sugar into raw sugar. $70 billion We are open today. To survive in a malnourished world millions of years ago, Humans have evolved to look for sugar wherever they can find itIn plants, sugars are provided in the form of fructose, sucrose and maltose, while lactose is the sugar found in milk.The body breaks down all these chemicals into glucose, which it uses for energy and fat storage. .
But humans have always crafted ingenious ways to keep sugar on hand. And since we also like to eat cake and eat it, we’ve invented chemical substitutes for sugar that don’t exist in nature, or hacked natural sugars to make them even more potent.
In fact, the development of sugar substitutes has a long history. In ancient Rome, it was customary to boil down grape syrup into a concentrated form called ‘sapa’ or ‘defultum’, which was often used to enhance the flavor of wine. Brewed in a pot. lead acetate, also known as “salts of Saturn” or “lead sugar”. Although sweet, lead acetate is highly toxic.
Scientists have recreated these archaic concoctions using old recipes and found that these toxic drinks contain between 240 and 1,000 milligrams of lead. One teaspoon (5 milliliters) is sufficient. chronic lead poisoningSome anthropologists believe that such contaminated wine contributed more to Rome’s fall than lead-laced plumbing.
Unfortunately, even today, these sweet shortcuts come at a price. Advances in scientific research are making the costs more and more apparent. A recent bombshell concerns erythritol, a mildly sweet sugar alcohol widely used in everything from chocolate and gum to dietary supplements and soft drinks. Despite being first discovered, this small molecule (consisting of just four carbon atoms) is Japanese fermentation technology This made large-scale production possible.
Erythritol is literally zero caloriesThis is because it is excreted too quickly in the body and not metabolized. Too tough for the bacteria in our gut break it downnevertheless it is still associated with weight gain development with type 2 diabetes.
Erythritol is Derived from plants such as cornAs such, they are often marketed as “natural” and technically not artificial sweeteners. produce naturally in small amounts. But researchers at his clinic in Cleveland published the study in the journal last month. natural medicine Erythritol consumption has been linked to a dramatic increase in heart attacks and strokes. This is a significant mortality risk because it is much higher than the quantity.
Want more health and science articles in your inbox? Subscribe to the salon’s weekly newsletter a vulgar scientist.
So far, this association is only an association, but the underlying mechanism indicates that erythritol increases the risk of blood clots. This is of particular concern for people with diabetes, obesity, or a history of cardiovascular disease. We tend to avoid sugar and reach for alternatives in the first place.
Future studies are needed to really elucidate this relationship, but for now, Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and European Food Safety Authority Erythritol should be considered safe for human consumption. The associated risks depend on the amount of erythritol ingested. But another major concern is that many people do not know how much they are eating.
“Erythritol levels in foods as an additive are difficult to track because the FDA does not require disclosure of erythritol content in foods,” wrote researchers at the Cleveland Clinic. The results highlight the need to establish reporting requirements, safety profiles, and margins for daily intake given that widespread consumption continues to increase.Public policy decisions should be evidence-based. We need to be more informed.”
As Salon reported, the FDA may soon change its definition of what constitutes a “healthy” food. This could address the common practice of adding sugar to low-fat foods and labeling them as nutritionally beneficial. However, some companies, such as KIND, a New York City-based snack food company, oppose these proposed changes, arguing they would encourage companies to use artificial sweeteners.FDA has no plans to regulate these alternatives.
In some ways, alternative sweeteners can be thought of as more like drugs than sugar, if not more so. It is an exogenous chemical that alters our biochemistry significantly. CelpressIn a randomized controlled trial in 120 adults that included four sweeteners, including stevia, aspartame, saccharin and sucralose, researchers at the Weizmann Institute of Science found that these additives were beneficial to the human microbiome, namely We discovered that it significantly changes the indigenous microbes in the gut, which are deeply related to our health.
The implications of this study are not yet clear, but it does show that sugar substitutes are not harmless. Given how widespread and serious the trend is to use artificial sweeteners in food, consumers can use better information and better science to inform their dietary choices.
