In an age of fad diets and weight-loss supplements, concerns about sugar intake are on the minds of many. From low-sugar cereals to sugar-free ice cream, more consumers are seeking artificial alternatives to cut calories without giving up favorite foods.
The dilemma for some, however, is whether or not these man-made sugar substitutes are fit for consumption.
According to a 2004 national consumer survey by the Calorie Control Council, about 163 million Americans regularly consume reduced-calorie and artificially sweetened foods. The survey said the No. 1 reason for using such products is to stay healthy.
The Food and Drug Administration has approved five popular sugar substitutes, and three out of the five – saccharin (Sweet N’ Low), aspartame (Equal or NutraSweet) and sucralose (Splenda) – are the most commonly used sweeteners, found in a variety of products.
At present, the only one documented as a cancer-causing agent is saccharin, said Dr. Roger Miller, assistant director of clinical services at Ohio State’s Wilce Student Health Center.
“A lot of saccharin was taken off the market a number of years ago,” Miller said. “But since that time, I think, some of the studies that said saccharin was a cancer-causing agent have been somewhat refuted. So I think there’s a question on that topic.”
According to the National Cancer Institute’s Web site, animal studies have linked saccharin to the development of bladder cancer. In light of the findings, Congress passed a law in 1977 requiring saccharin products to carry labels warning consumers that saccharin might be hazardous to their health.
In December 2000, however, Congress removed the label because results of a newer NCI-FDA study concluded that saccharin was not a major risk factor for bladder cancer in humans.
Identified 125 years ago, saccharin can be found in numerous foods and even products such as toothpaste. Like sucralose and aspartame, it belongs to a non-nutritive category of sweeteners that does not contain a significant amount of calories because the body is unable to readily break the compounds down.
Geoffrey Moes, senior in English and an employee at Brenen’s café, said customers seem to prefer sugar over man-made sweeteners.
“We stock both Splenda and Sweet N’ Low,” Moes said. “The Splenda always needs to be restocked, (but) sugar goes twice as fast.”
Aspartame, which is 180 times sweeter than sugar, was approved for use in 1981 by the FDA. It can be found in countless products including candies, desserts, cereals and sodas such as Diet Coke. Aspartame is made by joining a methyl ester with two amino acids, phenylalanine and aspartate. Amino acids are building blocks the body uses to make proteins and DNA.
Critics say the sweetener can be linked to central-nervous cancers and that it causes mild side effects, including diarrhea, panic attacks, dizziness and memory loss.
An FDA ruling said aspartame products must have a warning to phenylketonurics, or people with the genetic disease phenylketonuria (PKU), as well as pregnant women with hyperphenylalanine. Because each group can not metabolize phenylalanine well, the amino acid can accumulate and cause brain damage, according to an FDA article.
Sharron Coplin, a registered dietitian and extension associate in the department of human nutrition, said in an e-mail that PKU is rare and would only affect a developing brain. Artificial sweeteners, she said, can be part of a healthful diet if eaten in moderation like any other food.
Some organizations doubt the quality of the FDA’s research and caution consumers about other possible health risks associated with use of aspartame.
In a July 2005 press release Michael F. Jacobson, executive director for the Center for Science in the Public Interest, said the U.S. National Toxicology Program should conduct new animal studies to reassess the cancer risk from aspartame. Jacobson based his recommendation on a study in the European Journal of Oncology that found female rats given aspartame experienced a significant increase in lymphoma and leukemia cancers.
“As a precautionary measure … the FDA should consider ordering aspartame off the market,” Jacobson said. “Despite several shortcomings in the new study, … it was designed and conducted independently. Virtually all of the previous research was sponsored by the makers of aspartame.”
Since sucralose’s approval by the FDA in April 1998, the non-nutritive sweetener has also caught heat because some of its competitors said Splenda promotes the product to consumers as being more natural than other artificial sweeteners. Sucralose is about 600 times sweeter than sugar and is used in beverages, baked goods, ice cream, jams and jellies and other products.
McNeil Nutritionals, Splenda’s marketing company, said in an interview with NBC4 that Splenda was not marketed as natural – only that it is derived from sugar.
According to a Splenda Web site, sucralose is a non-natural product “made from sugar (sucrose) through a patented multi-step process that replaces three hydrogen-oxygen groups on the sugar molecule with three chlorine atoms. The result is an exceptionally stable sweetener that tastes like sugar, but without sugar’s calories.”
Some researchers and consumer groups are concerned about Splenda’s chlorination process because chlorination is also used to make pesticides. Because of FDA studies that found signs of absorption in 11 to 27 percent of male volunteers, researchers refute company claims that Splenda is not absorbed in the human body.
In the end, Miller said that artificial sweeteners are deemed safe only because they are approved through government agencies.
“There are some questions about different types of sweeteners and whether or not they might cause some mild health problems like diarrhea,” he said. “A lot of sweeteners that have very few calories in them don’t get absorbed very well by the body. That’s how they remain low calorie foods.”
David Maynard, a senior in English and comparative religion, said that he uses sugar instead of artificial sweeteners due to possible cancer risks.
“We won’t even know the effects until a decade from now,” Maynard said. “Even though (too much) sugar is bad for you, at least it’s natural.”
