The WHO states that regular use of these products may actually increase the risk of cardiovascular diseases, type 2 diabetes, and death.
More people worldwide are using sugar substitutes to control their weight or to manage non-infectious diseases. The World Health Organization (WHO) has released a warning against the use of these products.
The WHO director of nutrition and food safety stated that non-sugar sweeteners “are not essential dietary factors and have no nutritional value.”
Consuming too much sugar does contribute to obesity, which is linked with several diseases that are leading causes of death. Many people are aware of this and turn to sugar substitutes, which have few, if any, calories.
Unfortunately, it is unclear if their use actually aids weight loss. What the evidence does support is that they are associated with increased risk for various chronic diseases.
A review of 283 research studies by the WHO found that short term use (less than 3 months) of sugar substitutes - such as aspartame, saccharine, stevia, and sucralose - was associated with lower weight and body mass. However, using them for 6 to 18 months did not affect weight. Thus, there may be some weight loss over a 3 month period but use beyond that did not show a benefit.
In fact, studies showed that higher use of non-sugar sweeteners for up to a decade were associated with an increased risk of obesity, cardiovascular disease, stroke, and mortality.
Although the WHO has provided recommendations to avoid sugar substitutes and to minimize the use of high sugar products, they do acknowledge that their recommendations should be considered to be provisional. That is because they don’t consider the evidence to be conclusive.
My suggestion is to limit your intake of sugar and its substitutes, especially in children. If you don’t grow up eating and drinking very sweet products, you won’t crave them as adults. It is likely that limiting sugar and sugar substitutes is best for your health.
[The majority of this content was from an article by Melissa Suran, PhD in the July 3, 2023 JAMA Volume 330, Number 1, pp 9-10]
Peter M. Hartmann, MD
Family Medicine & Psychiatry
