Kinnikinik
12-04-2005, 05:34 PM
I thought I would attempt to do a tip of the week section, throwing things out there for you guys and gals to think about. The topics will be random, but will be applicable to one of several topics:
Health and Fitness
SWCC Info
General Military Knowledge
Or whatever floats my boat for the week.
I want to hear your opinions too. If you think I am off base, tell me, but as in all areas around here do so with respect and be prepared to back up yourself. I am a big believer that you can learn from anyone, so even if you haven't ever posted before, get your toes wet and jump in...
This week's topic: Artificial Sweeteners
What are artificial sweeteners? Well, basically they are substances that taste sweet like sugars (fructose, sucrose, glucose, dextrose) but do not have the caloric values of those sugars.
Examples are:
Aspartame (Nutrasweet)
Saccharin
Sucralose (Splenda)
Some sources of these sweeteners may be Diet Sodas, Light Yogurt, Light Juices, Light Ice Cream, Diet Snack Bars... basically if it says reduced calories and it is sweet, take a look at how they reduce the calories.
Americans are consuming more and more of these things every day in an effort to lose weight and be healthy. But are they healthy for you?
Kinnikinik's answer: Hell NO! Your bodies were made to process sugar and foodstuffs, not processed chemicals.
Detailed answer.
Lets first talk about how you make a "sugar substitute." In order for something to taste sweet, it must fit into the "sweet receptors" on your tongue. Think of this like Legos. If one end of the lego fits into the other, you make a connection. It doesn't really matter what is on top of that lego, as long as the connecting pieces fit together. So, what chemical engineers do is they take a chemical that will connect with the sweet receptors, such as Sucrose and add on chemicals to the chain that make it so that your body can not process the sugar, or make it so that a chemical that is not similar to sugars can connect with these receptors. Unfortunately, this causes alot of problems as your body tries to get rid of this stuff that it can not process.
Lets take a look at the most common sugar subsitutes and what they are and what they do.
Aspartame- The worst of the sugar substitutes, originally created as an Ulcer medication it was approved for a sweetener. Aspartame is a dipeptide of aspartic acid and a methyl ester of phenylalanine. Phenylalanine is the primary source of problems with this chemical, especially for people with autosomal recessive phenylketonuria, the people listed on the side of those Diet Coke cans. These people have elevated levels of Phenylanine which may cause mental retardation. Most common side effects are nausea and headache.
Saccharin- Pink packets of death... well a little bit of exaggeration, but up until recently those little pink packets containing saccharin have had cancer warnings on them. They were removed because the proportional amount neccesary to give cancer to laboratory animals was very high when compared to human beings. Saccharin causes cancer in laboratory animals by attatching to proteins in the urine and creating silicate crystals in the bladder.
Sucralose (Splenda)- Chlorinated Sucrose. Chlorinated so that the body does not recognize it as sugar (O-H groups replaced by Cl). Pre-approval research showed that sucralose caused shrunken thymus glands and enlarged liver and kidneys. No real research has come out on long term effects, and this seems to be the safest, but still...
OK, now what about sugar:
Sucrose, or table sugar contains 16 calories per teaspoon, about one packet of sugar. Honey in comparison contains 21 calories per teaspoon. Fructose is 1.5 times as sweet as sugar and may be found as high fructose corn syrup in soft drinks or other processed foods. It is 12 calories per teaspoon.
Here is a nice table of drinks and their 6.0 oz. caloric content (Most drinks are 12-20 oz):
7-Up
80
7-Up diet
0
Apple Juice
90
Bitter Lemon
75
Cherry Cola
80
Cherry Cola diet
0
Cola
80
Cola diet
0
Collins Mixer
60
Cranberry Juice
100
Grapejuice
110
Grapefruit Juice
70
Lemonade
80
Lemon-Lime
70
Orange
100
Orange diet
5
Orange Juice
90
Pineapple Juice
100
Sour Mixer
70
Tonic/Quinine
70
Tonic/Quinine diet
5
Water Mineral/bottled
0
Say you have a Coke.... that is 160 calories for a 12 ounce can. Compared to the Recommended Daily allowance for a 180 pound, 6'0" male who is heavily active of 3330 calories per day. That is roughly 5% of your daily intake of calories. Now, over 3 meals a day, considering you have one coke a meal, you will have an intake of 540 calories, or 15% of you daily intake, leaving 85% to be made up of other foods.
So, drinking diet sodas as an active person will give you a 15% decrease in calories if you usually three regular cokes a day. Well, drinking water also does the same thing and you do not have to deal with side effects. How about your coffee? Are you a two pink pack per coffee person? You are eliminating 32 calories... 0.1% of your daily intake per cup of coffee by putting that stuff in there.
Beer- One Budweiser has 146 Calories, Bud Light is 109 calories. A shot of Bacardi is 144 calories.
Here are my suggestions... even if the data is inconclusive on artificial sweeteners, I do not suggest using them. It is not bad to put sugar in your coffee. Nor is it bad to have a Coke now and then, just as it isn't bad to have a beer or shot every once in a while. But do it in moderation. The problem with these artificial sweeteners is that you think you can do what you want, eat and drink without paying the cost (calories), but the truth is, anything in excess is bad. Your body has to process everything you put in it, and your body has a GIGO effect going for it. If you put garbage in, you will get garbage out.
Your body is set up to process that sugars, not peptides and clorinates. If you are worried about gaining weight, or are worried about losing weight, drink water. Cut down on that six pack a night you are drinking. Exercise more. Get your metabolism on a schedule (maybe a topic of another one of these), but putting artificial sweeteners in your diet will not make you lose weight on their own. The costs do not outweight the benefits.
Here is the National Cancer Institute's website on artificial sweeteners:
http://www.cancer.gov/cancertopics/factsheet/Risk/artificial-sweeteners
And a spin site for it, which has good info, but be aware of the spin angle to sell the book.
http://www.sweetpoison.com/aspartame-sweeteners.html
Pop Science
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2004/06/040630081825.htm
Some Chemical Information
http://pubs.acs.org/cen/whatstuff/stuff/8225sweeteners.html
Health and Fitness
SWCC Info
General Military Knowledge
Or whatever floats my boat for the week.
I want to hear your opinions too. If you think I am off base, tell me, but as in all areas around here do so with respect and be prepared to back up yourself. I am a big believer that you can learn from anyone, so even if you haven't ever posted before, get your toes wet and jump in...
This week's topic: Artificial Sweeteners
What are artificial sweeteners? Well, basically they are substances that taste sweet like sugars (fructose, sucrose, glucose, dextrose) but do not have the caloric values of those sugars.
Examples are:
Aspartame (Nutrasweet)
Saccharin
Sucralose (Splenda)
Some sources of these sweeteners may be Diet Sodas, Light Yogurt, Light Juices, Light Ice Cream, Diet Snack Bars... basically if it says reduced calories and it is sweet, take a look at how they reduce the calories.
Americans are consuming more and more of these things every day in an effort to lose weight and be healthy. But are they healthy for you?
Kinnikinik's answer: Hell NO! Your bodies were made to process sugar and foodstuffs, not processed chemicals.
Detailed answer.
Lets first talk about how you make a "sugar substitute." In order for something to taste sweet, it must fit into the "sweet receptors" on your tongue. Think of this like Legos. If one end of the lego fits into the other, you make a connection. It doesn't really matter what is on top of that lego, as long as the connecting pieces fit together. So, what chemical engineers do is they take a chemical that will connect with the sweet receptors, such as Sucrose and add on chemicals to the chain that make it so that your body can not process the sugar, or make it so that a chemical that is not similar to sugars can connect with these receptors. Unfortunately, this causes alot of problems as your body tries to get rid of this stuff that it can not process.
Lets take a look at the most common sugar subsitutes and what they are and what they do.
Aspartame- The worst of the sugar substitutes, originally created as an Ulcer medication it was approved for a sweetener. Aspartame is a dipeptide of aspartic acid and a methyl ester of phenylalanine. Phenylalanine is the primary source of problems with this chemical, especially for people with autosomal recessive phenylketonuria, the people listed on the side of those Diet Coke cans. These people have elevated levels of Phenylanine which may cause mental retardation. Most common side effects are nausea and headache.
Saccharin- Pink packets of death... well a little bit of exaggeration, but up until recently those little pink packets containing saccharin have had cancer warnings on them. They were removed because the proportional amount neccesary to give cancer to laboratory animals was very high when compared to human beings. Saccharin causes cancer in laboratory animals by attatching to proteins in the urine and creating silicate crystals in the bladder.
Sucralose (Splenda)- Chlorinated Sucrose. Chlorinated so that the body does not recognize it as sugar (O-H groups replaced by Cl). Pre-approval research showed that sucralose caused shrunken thymus glands and enlarged liver and kidneys. No real research has come out on long term effects, and this seems to be the safest, but still...
OK, now what about sugar:
Sucrose, or table sugar contains 16 calories per teaspoon, about one packet of sugar. Honey in comparison contains 21 calories per teaspoon. Fructose is 1.5 times as sweet as sugar and may be found as high fructose corn syrup in soft drinks or other processed foods. It is 12 calories per teaspoon.
Here is a nice table of drinks and their 6.0 oz. caloric content (Most drinks are 12-20 oz):
7-Up
80
7-Up diet
0
Apple Juice
90
Bitter Lemon
75
Cherry Cola
80
Cherry Cola diet
0
Cola
80
Cola diet
0
Collins Mixer
60
Cranberry Juice
100
Grapejuice
110
Grapefruit Juice
70
Lemonade
80
Lemon-Lime
70
Orange
100
Orange diet
5
Orange Juice
90
Pineapple Juice
100
Sour Mixer
70
Tonic/Quinine
70
Tonic/Quinine diet
5
Water Mineral/bottled
0
Say you have a Coke.... that is 160 calories for a 12 ounce can. Compared to the Recommended Daily allowance for a 180 pound, 6'0" male who is heavily active of 3330 calories per day. That is roughly 5% of your daily intake of calories. Now, over 3 meals a day, considering you have one coke a meal, you will have an intake of 540 calories, or 15% of you daily intake, leaving 85% to be made up of other foods.
So, drinking diet sodas as an active person will give you a 15% decrease in calories if you usually three regular cokes a day. Well, drinking water also does the same thing and you do not have to deal with side effects. How about your coffee? Are you a two pink pack per coffee person? You are eliminating 32 calories... 0.1% of your daily intake per cup of coffee by putting that stuff in there.
Beer- One Budweiser has 146 Calories, Bud Light is 109 calories. A shot of Bacardi is 144 calories.
Here are my suggestions... even if the data is inconclusive on artificial sweeteners, I do not suggest using them. It is not bad to put sugar in your coffee. Nor is it bad to have a Coke now and then, just as it isn't bad to have a beer or shot every once in a while. But do it in moderation. The problem with these artificial sweeteners is that you think you can do what you want, eat and drink without paying the cost (calories), but the truth is, anything in excess is bad. Your body has to process everything you put in it, and your body has a GIGO effect going for it. If you put garbage in, you will get garbage out.
Your body is set up to process that sugars, not peptides and clorinates. If you are worried about gaining weight, or are worried about losing weight, drink water. Cut down on that six pack a night you are drinking. Exercise more. Get your metabolism on a schedule (maybe a topic of another one of these), but putting artificial sweeteners in your diet will not make you lose weight on their own. The costs do not outweight the benefits.
Here is the National Cancer Institute's website on artificial sweeteners:
http://www.cancer.gov/cancertopics/factsheet/Risk/artificial-sweeteners
And a spin site for it, which has good info, but be aware of the spin angle to sell the book.
http://www.sweetpoison.com/aspartame-sweeteners.html
Pop Science
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2004/06/040630081825.htm
Some Chemical Information
http://pubs.acs.org/cen/whatstuff/stuff/8225sweeteners.html