‘Sweeteners not good for diabetics’

Governor Wycliffe Oparanya testing for blood sugar levels at Kakamega County Hospital during the launch of Diabetes Comprehensive Care Unit at the facility on July 30th, 2015. {PHOTO: CHRISPEN SECHERE}

Artificial sweeteners are not the healthy option for both diabetics and non-diabetics.

This comes in the wake of growing amount of evidence showing that instead of lowering risks for obesity and diabetes, artificial sweeteners have the opposite effects.

Diabetes Kenya Association President, Dr Kirtida Acharya, says Kenyans need to see through the veneer of marketing promises, made by manufacturers of sweeteners, tuned to appeal to the gullible masses.

“They (manufacturers) says sweeteners are non-sugar options, healthy for use, for diabetics and non-diabetics alike. That is a lie. There is evidence emerging from research showing that sweeteners increase appetite and users are more predisposed to obesity than non-users,” Acharya says.

However, she is more worried about other evidence suggesting that sweeteners, which are formulated and made in the laboratory, contains chemical components that are carcinogenic and therefore cause cancer.

She says: “So far we know that some of the side effects of their regular use include migraines and diarrhoea. But we should be concerned about evidence showing that sweeteners could also be carcinogenic.”

Joseph Mwangi, a diabetes educator at Diabetes Management and Information Centre (DMI-Kenya), says artificial sweeteners contain some amount of carbohydrates.

“At DMI we do not advise our patients to use sweeteners because they do not rank well in the glycemic index,” he says.

According to Mwangi, sweeteners contain some amount of glucose and for a diabetic, this serves as extra glucose in the blood stream.

“Therefore, ingesting sweeteners has a direct impact on the health of a diabetic,” Mwangi says.

A May 2016 study, published in Applied Physiology, Nutrition and Metabolism journal, seems to have arrived at a similar conclusion.

Findings from this study indicate that sweeteners – such as saccharin, aspartame and sucralose – do not benefit one’s health.

“Our study shows individuals with obesity who consume artificial sweeteners, particularly aspartame, may have worse glucose management than those who do not take sugar substitutes,” Professor Jennifer Kuk, of York University in Toronto, is quoted saying.

This is particularly important at a time many are moving towards diet drinks with sweeteners instead of sugar, marketed as ‘healthy’ options.

According to clinical nutritionist Beatrice Wangari, sugar ought to be consumed with caution. Speaking at a seminar by Resolution Health Insurance, Beatrice advised individuals with a high risk for diabetes to steer clear of sugars.

“Any kind of sugar is not for those at the brink of diabetes,” she said.

In her presentation, Beatrice said artificial sweeteners are a healthier option. However, Acharya says there is no evidence with concrete proof that sweeteners are healthier than sugar.

“In any case, sweeteners are extremely sweet compared to sugar. It is easier to be addicted to sweeteners than sugar,” he said.

Her advice is for sweet-toothed diabetics to get their sugar from fruits noting that majority of health solutions are available in natural remedies and not artificial formulations.

On his part, Mwangi maintains that patients with diabetes should neither use sweeteners nor processed sugar.

In another study, done on animals, by scientists at University of Sydney, lead researcher Greg explained the results:

“After chronic exposure to a diet that contained artificial sweetener, animals began eating a lot more. Chronic consumption of artificial sweeteners actually increases the sweet intensity of real nutritive sugar, and this then increases the animal’s overall motivation to eat more food.”

The study was done on animals but the team believes its findings can also apply to human beings. If sweeteners increase appetite then that would mean obesity which would mean increased risk for diabetes.

As for the propensity of sweeteners causing cancer and other conditions, only time and volumes of research, which is currently lacking, can provide qualitative evidence.