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Why The WHO Is Reinforcing Its Warning About Sugar Substitutes

The World Health Organization (WHO) recently issued a draft guideline recommending against the use of non-sugar sweeteners for weight loss and management, citing long-term health effects, among other factors,

WHO also noted that while sugar substitutes may be useful for short-term weight loss, they also come with other long-term risks. It cites systematic meta-analyses that showed non-nutritive sweeteners tended to coincide with weight gain and high BMIs over long-term periods. It also noted that while evidence was limited, some data showed an increased risk of "type two diabetes, cardiovascular diseases, and mortality in adults.

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Articles of Interest

Are Sugar Substitutes Good for Kids?

Information is limited about the long-term safety of consuming nonnutritive sweeteners.

Artificial sweeteners as a sugar substitute: Are they really safe?

Nonnutritive sweeteners (NNS) have become an important part of everyday life and are increasingly used nowadays in a variety of dietary and medicinal products. They provide fewer calories and far more intense sweetness than sugar-containing products and are used by a plethora of population subsets for varying objectives.

Being Happy With Sugar

Popular media are full of claims that sugar is toxic. And there’s intense disagreement about recommendations to replace table sugar and high-fructose corn syrup with “natural” sweeteners like agave nectar or fruit juice. What to make of it all?

Common Sugar Substitutes to Avoid

Your decision to swap out refined sugar for minimally processed, natural sugar alternatives can have a massive impact on your recipes and your body. First, let’s talk about the sugar substitutes you should avoid.

How Sugar Substitutes Stack Up

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In The Search For The Perfect Sugar Substitute, Another Candidate Emerges

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Sugar and its role in food is also becoming an increasingly complicated topic, because the types and number of sugar substitutes are changing

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Resources

Sweet Relief?

A sugar snob taste-tests Splenda and other sweeteners.