[Health Science] Are “sugar-free drinks” really healthy?

The increasing incidence of obesity, diabetes, gout, acne and other diseases is closely related to “sugar”. When people are immersed in high sugar When the happiness brought by drinks, I have to think about the troubles that high sugar brings to health. Therefore, “sugar-free drinks”, which can bring taste bud stimulation similar to sugar drinks, came into being.

Most sugar-free beverage products are marked with the slogan “0 sugar, 0 fat, 0 calories”, you may think that this sugar-free beverage does not need to worry about excessive calorie intake, and you will not worry about it Affect health problems, but we should really think about whether this “sugar-free drink” is really healthy!

In fact, “sugar-free drinks” often add artificial sugar substitutes, such as aspartame, cyclamate, Sucrose and other sweeteners are used instead of sucrose. Its sweetness is dozens or even hundreds of times that of white sugar, but the energy content is very low. For example, drinking too much for a long time will make the body fatter and fatter. Studies have shown that the sweetness of sweeteners can make people feel like eating sugary foods, which in turn stimulates the body to produce insulin, resulting in a drop in blood sugar, a feeling of hunger, and an increase in appetite. Although the “sweetener” in sugar-free drinks has zero calories, long-term intake of artificial sugar substitutes will lead to an imbalance of insulin endocrine, which will lead to metabolic disorders in the human body, making us eat more and become fatter.

For cardiovascular disease, sugar substitutes are not a healthy choice. Among those who did not drink sweetened beverages, those who drank artificially sweetened beverages on a daily basis had a 32 percent higher risk of cardiovascular disease. In the face of our limited cognition, we should also exercise restraint in the face of “healthy substances”, instead of letting it become a reason for our continued indulgence. Regarding sugar substitutes, the article only mentions artificial sugar substitutes, not natural sugar substitutes. In fact, the current mainstream view in the scientific community is that artificial sugar substitutes are more harmful to the body and have the risk of inducing diabetes. However, natural sugar substitutes are relatively safe. Taking erythritol as an example, it does not stimulate the secretion of insulin, nor does it affect blood sugar, nor does it affect triglycerides and cholesterol. There is little change when it is absorbed from the gut into the body and finally excreted through the kidneys.

Scientific development is a spiral upward process, and there may also be a process of constantly overturning and drawing new conclusions . For example, artificial sugar substitute, when it was first invented, everyone thought it was safer, but later, with the deepening of research, its drawbacks were discovered.

In short, according to the current research, sugar substitutes are better than added sugars, and natural sugar substitutes are better than artificial sugar substitutes. If you can’t put down the sweetness, it’s okay to choose natural sugar substitutes. However, the research on natural sugar substitutes is not sufficient, so it is best to maintain proper restraint no matter what sugar-free beverages are faced.