Is There a Clear Choice for Healthy Soft Drinks? Part 2

In the meantime, aspartame was approved in 1981 for use as an artificial sweetener in the U.S. amid questions of a relationship between aspartame and brain or central nervous system cancers. Later studies showing leukemias and lymphomas in rats fed large doses of aspartame (the equivalent of more than eight cans of soda per day) gave consumers more cause for concern. Subsequent studies of related data have not shown that increasing consumption of aspartame-containing beverages was associated with the development of lymphoma, leukemia, or brain cancer, and aspartame remains a popular and approved sweetener for diet beverages. Acesulfame potassium, approved for limited use in 1988, and sucralose, approved for limited use in 1998, are other artificial sweeteners commonly found in diet sodas today. Their approval for use in foods and beverages has been too recent to discover whether there are any long-term problems associated with ingesting these chemicals. In 2006, Britain's Food Standards Agency recalled several diet soft drinks because of concerns about a chemical reaction that created benzene in the beverages. (see "Old Preservative Study Sparks New Media Fizz") The results of studies published in 2007 indicate that artificial sweeteners also appear to stimulate processes via sweet-sensitive taste receptors in the gut that increase glucose uptake and insulin secretion. Future studies are needed to determine how this mechanism affects human metabolism, but the indication is that sugar and noncaloric sweeteners affect the process equally. These findings may completely reverse the commonly accepted belief that artificial sweeteners are safer than natural sweeteners for diabetics. Despite the history of questions about the safety of artificial sweeteners, consumers show by their purchases that they are quite comfortable with drinking artificially sweetened beverages. In a study published in 2008, researchers from the University of London found that it was not water that comprised more than half of the fluid consumption for British youth. On average, 56 percent of total fluid intake was in the form of soft drinks, of which 55 percent were sugar-sweetened and 45 percent were low-calorie. The study authors said that per capita consumption of soft drinks is similar in Britain and the United States. Both countries, like others worldwide, consume an alarming amount of soda. Nearly half of that is artificially sweetened, consumed by people trying to avoid the sugar found in nondiet soda. But other research released in 2007 and 2008 demonstrate that the problems with sodas are much more complex than originally thought. It's not just the sugar. Sugarless diet sodas also contribute to obesity, metabolic syndrome and dental erosion. Cola beverages, whether diet or not, have recently been shown to contribute to increased risk of kidney problems and osteoporosis. More than one soft drink per day is now associated with increased risk of cardiovascular disease, and it doesn't seem to matter whether the sweetener is completely artificial or not. Whether sodas are sugared, or are called "Diet" or "Free" or "Zero," the evidence clearly shows that the over-consumption of such beverages is one contributing factor to the declining health of the human race. Some are trying to reverse this trend by starting with the youth; in the United States, for example, sales of most sodas to schools are being phased out. This may be a good start, but more attention to this health issue is warranted. The responsibility for one's health ultimately lies with the individual. As part of a healthy lifestyle, we must consider what our bodies really need for healthy hydration. Study after study over the years has shown that substituting artificial sweeteners for sugar in soft drinks is not the healthy choice we had once imagined. Instead of experimenting with yet more chemicals and straying even farther from nature, perhaps we should go back to drinking less soda and more water: the clear choice for better health. By: ALICE ABLER Source: www.vision.org