Hey everyone. As always, love the comments, but there are some points that I'd add here: 1) This is a video about the safety of artificial sweeteners. This is not a video proving that artificial sweeteners make you lose weight. 2) Some people are getting caught up in the whole "will artificial sweeteners satisfy my cravings" thing. Again, not the point here. I do not advocate that you spend your day drinking diet soda to keep from eating. I'm advocating that you replace a sugared beverage with a meal with a calorie-free beverage. It's the meal that will satiate you. You don't need the sugared beverage, and it shouldn't matter if it's sweet or not if you're eating. 3) I'd go further and point out that I acknowledge that diet beverages have been shown in studies to be associated with weight gain. Again, I think that's mostly behavioral, but it misses the point. I'm not promoting them as diet tools. I'm saying that artificial sweeteners are not dangerous. I also think that if you use them in moderation as part of a healthy diet, you're eliminating added sugar from what you eat. And that's a good thing.

I cannot thank you guys enough for making this video. About 6 years ago now I lost 100lbs., and a major part of my eating habits was diet soda--granted not as good of a choice as water, but it provided variety and that was really helpful. All these years later I've managed to keep the weight off and still drink diet soda (though more sparingly), and I can't tell you how many people have tried to tell me it's bad for me or will make me gain weight. I've empirically known that wasn't true for years, but now it's great to know a bit about the science behind it.

Thank you for making this. Alot of my family and friends (including myself) are always hearing horror stories of sweeteners from the internet. It's a relief to hear from a doctor citing peer reviewed studies on the reality of these rumours. I've really appreciated these videos and thank you for making them.

perhaps an episode on MSG

"A new microscopic organism named Saccharomyces cerevisiae which can convert certain harmless sugars into harmful CO2 and C2H60, both of which can kill you in high doses, is now being used in bread world wide - it must be stopped!" This is a technically correct but very misleading description of bakers yeast. My point here is that for the untrained eye, misleading science with a few fancy words thrown in can make anything sound terrible. I'm not saying that these theories about cancer causing sweeteners are as absurd and easily debunked as my previously stated example, but people making these rash assumptions about aspartame and other sweeteners do interpret studies in their own way to make a point. Unfortunately these people who buy into it look no further than what they are told.

In the words of Hank Green, "EVERYTHING IS CHEMICALS!" This channel is great. Keep up the good work.

So, in resume: There is no realistic evidence of health risk by consuming artificial sweeteners in any studies made so far. Artificial sweeteners are as risky as consuming Vitamin C. No abuse no problem. Great video :D #HealthcareTriage #health

Thank you so much for making this video. I love this channel so much.

I love the way a lot of people worry about these evil chemicals when EVERYTHING is made of chemicals. 2-butylacetate, cis-3-hexen-1- ol, citric acid, 3-methyl-1-butanol, 2-methylbutanal, 1-octen- 3-one, and trans,trans-2,4-decadienal: geranial, 2-methylbutanal, and 3-methyl-1-butanol. All naturally occurring in tomato's. Have all of these been tested to ensure they are safe?

I find diet sodas to be distasteful because they taste like crap.

Anecdote ahead warning: I am all for clinical trials, I too detest the irrational fear of misinformation. However I just went through a year of uncomfortable lower GI symptoms *apparently* (not conclusively) related to sucralose (Splenda). The hypothesis is that by me replacing sugar with sucralose, I caused a bloom of gut bacteria that attempted to break down the sucralose but were causing problems with all sorts of symptoms I won't get into. In short, it had caused an imbalance of "bad" gut bacteria. It was more than just bloating and diarrhea, there was bleeding involved. By eliminating sucralose and going back to sugar -- without any other dietary changes -- my symptoms disappeared in less than two weeks. I know this is one case and not a study, but it seems further study is needed.

*runs to show this to my mother, who used to scold me for buying diet pepsi occasionally while she drank regular everyday because "sugar is real"*

Meanwhile, I've never found an artificial sweetener that didn't taste horrible and overshadow the flavor of whatever it's in.

The people who flip about aspartame are the same ones who lose their marbles about dihydrogen monoxide.

I think Healthcare Triage must have a pretty thick skin! The truth of it is, when it comes to things like this, people want to be proven right, and if you go against them, they'll say you're a sell out. I'm not convinced, but you have given me a lot to think over and if I have spare time,I'll try to look into the studies that you cited in more detail. Thanks for the video!

What about the recent studies in Norway and Denmark that followed a cohort of pregnant women and determined that the consumption of aspartame increased the likelihood of preterm delivery? From what I have studied, the artificial sweeteners trigger the same insulin response IN THE PANCREAS because sweetness can be detected in the intestine. Natural sugar gives the same response, however its caloric triggers messages to the brain to suppress appetite. This is why artificial sweeteners can cause insulin resistance that leads to hyperglycemia over time. This can be really troubling for a pregnant woman, because over a long period of time, hyperglycemia increases oxidative stress on the body. Reactive oxygen species form, and if pro-oxidative capacity gets too high (which we can measure at the time of birth in the mother), it can trigger a response for the mother to give birth too early (because it just so happens that oxidative stress is one of the factors that promotes a healthy labor). Just wondering...

I try to avoid artificial sweeteners because I hate the way they taste. It ruins the experience of whatever they are in for me. That said, I probably should drink fewer energy drinks. I'm interested to hear these kind of videos because they challenge ideas I have. I also think it's hard for people to zone in on what exactly he is saying because he said one thing that is different from their understanding. As in the case of the organic food video, a lot of hate will be generated for positions that he isn't holding, like those who are going off on rants about promoting diet soda as a weight loss program. Which he isn't doing, but it's hard for people to follow that when their dander gets up by the premise of the video. They, and I include myself in they as I know I do this, get flipped from "Rational Conversation" mode to "Win The Argument" mode and can no longer process any point the other person is trying to make.

What's your opinion on high fructose corn syrup? I'm not trying to suggest that it's carcinogenic, but how do you feel about the fact that it's in dam near everything/how much of a problem is that?

Switching to diet soda helped me lose a lot of weight, but my anti-gmo all-organic sister told me I'd get tumors from the aspartame. Then I remembered healthcare triage and looked to see if you'd done a video on this. You guys never disappoint.

in a survival situation, would eating spoiled or rotten food be ok? or would the negative effects of food poisoning outweigh any nourishment you may get from the food?

Cool. Sadly, I can taste the difference. Which means I like my sugar sweet, unhealthy, and in everything, please. Buuuuuut we used to joke that artificial sweetener was "probably worse than the devil for you anyways" which I'm gonna stop from now on.

Thank you for informing me I have been talking out my ass. No, really. Genuinely thank you. I can chew gum again.

A friend of mine is spreading an article talking about how secondhand smoke is overblown and it's not all that bad for people. Of course the article said that secondhand smoke's negative effects are unproven and I pointed out that of course that was the case and no ethics committee would approve a RCT of that study. But still, is there room for an upcoming video on secondhand smoke?

I might have a glass of soda maybe 3 or 4 times a year. And I find artificial sweeteners to taste disgusting. It has a cloying delivery and aftertaste. So if I'm going to do it, make it real sugar. What I'd love to see you compare is metabolism of HFCS versus sucrose versus fructose, etc.

I love this channel! It directly covers the scientific method and nuanced methodological issues, and it's about things that matter to people right now. He's also not a goofball trying to make "SCIENCE LOOK FUN, KIDS! WOWZA, LOOK AT MY BACKWARDS HAT! WOO HOO!" I guess I just mean that I feel respected, which is nice.

Really enjoying these videos, guys. Great content, great presentation style! My own video on the topic of artificial sweeteners. Artificial Sweeteners Very similar conclusions... a little more detail.

In 2003 My wife and were cutting calories and sugar intake. Neither of us had heard anything about negative side effects of aspartame. When we simultaneously started having memory problems and blurred vision, the copious amounts of yoghurt we were eating was the last thing we suspected as the cause. We bought a carbon monoxide sensor and threw out expired medicines. When symptoms didn't improve, we worried about radon, polluted drinking water, mold, poisonous plants... We just didn't know what it could be! For more than a week, severity ebbed and flowed, but the effects were significant. Apart from the yoghurt and 0 calorie sodas, my diet consisted of little processed food. On a whim, I searched for info on aspartame and found reports of symptoms like what we were experiencing. We dropped all aspartame laden foods entirely and within 3 days, vision and memory returned to normal. We concluded that aspartame is to be avoided at all costs. Not all chemicals are bad, but food should not cause neurological problems! I should mention we were not consuming in moderation. We were treating those yoghurt cups like "free pass treats". I was eating as many as 6 (possibly more) per day plus sodas for several days and it took days before symptoms set in. Official medical opines like this are great, but don't rely on this guy's scoffing dismissal as proof these things are safe (or my anecdote that they are not!)

Great video. Can you guys do one dispelling the myths around MSG too?

God I love this series.

THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU! Finally someone addressing this!

What I've always heard about Aspartame is that it was linked to heart issues (I don't remember exactly what said issues where). Is there any data on this?

I have a chronic pain disorder and I frequently find that aspertame causes 'flare ups' of the pain, as well as stiffness and increased fatigue. Several fibromyalgia patients I know have pointed at a link between aspertame and pain from fibro, in particular. Is there a link there or is it part of the general artificial sweetener distrust?

What about high fructose corn syrup? There's so much negativity surrounding it that I really don't know what to think. Help, please?

I don't drink any soda, artificially sweetened or no. So, if given the choice, I'd probably choose a ladder too.

I absolutely love that you guys post links to the references.

My husband was just diagnosed with IC (painful bladder syndrome). He was told to lay off citrus, caffeine, artificial sweeteners and spicy foods. We use saccharin not the blue or yellow stuff limiting it to 4 packets per day or one caffeine free soda and three something else decaf . I read where potassium could harm the bladder, is this true? No cancer only the pain. Thanks.

Everything in moderation ... including moderation.

Can you do one of these for GMOs?

Any reason you skipped sucralose? Apparently at least one recent study indicates that it releases dioxin when heated. Sucralose/Splenda is used a lot for baking, so this can be a concern for some people. Makes me wonder if any of the other sweeteners out there have chemical reactions to heat or common soda ingredients that a study against the pure form might not turn up.

Hi, Dr. Aaron Carroll- I would love it if you did a video sometime on food intolerance. For me personally, I have a food intolerance towards every no-calorie sweetener I have tried. I get headaches from them, which eventually turns into a migraine if I don't take any pain killers (after about 4-12 hours or so depending on dosage). My backstory on this: I never had the problem until I was about 27 or so, and it was intermittent headaches at first for a couple years (meaning I didn't always have a reaction when I ingested no calorie sweeteners), and I didn't know exactly what was causing them. Eventually it became every time I had diet soda, or anything with sacharine, aspartame, stevia or sucralose. Like, 100% of the time, even tho it wasn't like that at first. I could typically feel a sort of "tightening"- within about two minutes of ingesting even about a cup worth of diet soda- in my temples. I've ruled out entirely some sort of psychosomatic or placebo reaction, it happens whether I know there's artificial sweetener in the food or not- on countless occasions after I've gotten a headache then looked up the ingredients of something to find that it had sucralose in it (I also don't have anything against artificial sweeteners). It's something my grandma had too, apparently she would get headaches from diet coke. My dad is a (retired, recently) ER doctor, and if I recall he was fairly certain that it's a food intolerance (on a side note, you must be a pretty good doctor! watching your video was almost spookily verbatim the listening end of conversations I've had with my dad) and said it had something to do with my enzymes being stupid jerks, if I recall. I obviously can (and do) research this on my own, but I like your videos a lot! Side note to potential commenters: Feel free to refrain from nasty or accusatory comments. I'm not some hippy on a crusade against "unnatural" this or that- But I know when my head hurts; you telling me why It's not the way I say it is and can't possibly be artificial sweeteners at fault does not change that I am me, and I have lived with this for about 7 years now, and have deduced all this with basic pattern recognition skills- It's undoubtedly artificial sweeteners (or natural no-calorie sweeteners). Comments involving facts or educated reasoning are welcome- nay, encouraged.

5:34 You can't drink a ladder silly!

Thank you for your methodical, concise, and accurate info. Sadly, when facts contradict what peoples gut tells them, we get confusion and sometimes bad public policy. Your videos are filled with real science and actual scientific facts, so obviously it will be ignored by uninformed google users who have already made up their own minds and have found data to support their beliefs. Usually from unscrupulous and other uninformed people. Keep the good science coming, there's really not enough of it out there.

I would be interested in an Episode on Bisphenol-A, which can not just be found in industrial applications, but supposedly also in food-can lining. Does it leech into the food, is the exposure significant?

So the episode of Scishow was wrong??? Also, what studies have been done comparing sugar and stevia? I've recently switched due to much needed weight-loss, just curious if it is having any real effect.

I already limit my naturally sweetened beverages, I refuse to ingest artificial sweeteners. Were all of those study participants regular healthy people on no additional medications? Probably. I take 10 different prescription meds a day, no one know the affects of artificial sweeteners plus my personal cocktail. I'm hurting my liver and kidneys already, why chance more? And its not the same at all when you compare it to the vaccine/autism debate. That not only puts the unvaccinated child in danger, but other people who come in contact with them. Me not ingesting sweeteners hurts on one.

When I was just searching on the Internet is almost pissed me off that there was nobody playing devils advocate. Glad you did and cleared the air. "Study showed that artificial sweeteners caused cravings for other sweet foods" I mean cool. And the artificial sweetener is the reason for the weight gain? No! Self control...

Thanks so much for making these! However you only mentioned cancers, headaches and brain tumors, but what about the other supposed health risks of artificial sweeteners, like Aspartame being said to have reported side effects like causing anxiety, nausea, mood disorders etc...? I now tend to avoid sweeteners and high sugary foods and drinks. I used to drink lots of soft drinks like cola, but about November last year I stopped completely and now only drink mineral water or low sugar fruit drinks and the odd time, different teas with no sugar. I used to also eat nearly a bar of chocolate a day, but now its more one a week at most.I had a blood test for diabetes last year, but thankfully it was negative, so it pushed me to make sure I stayed that way. Since I did cut back a lot, I noticed I could sleep better and generally now feel a lot better than as I used to and now check food and drinks for how much sugar and artificial sweeteners they have before I consume anything (as well as how much saturates and other fats they have).

Id love to hear if theres new updates on this topic or more research about sweeteners now, 9 years later. Please do an update!!

Wooo! Healthcare Triage Listened to my suggestion (and many other of course) to do a Artificial Sweeteners episode! The world-suck value has been decreased :D

This seems overly personal and biased--especially the weird rant about micromanaging your own family's diet. Whatever a doctor is willing to do to their children does not count as scientific evidence. There is, however, a scientific study that showed that rats that consumed artificially sweetened yogurt ate more total calories than rats that ate sugar-sweetened yogurt, and also studies that concluded that sweet tastes cause the pancreas to release more insulin. I really don't understand why physicians in particular can't seen to grasp the idea that hormones affect behavior--All hormones--even those released in the pancreas! It's like saying sex hormones couldn't possibly affect behavior because they are released by the gonads and not the brain. LOL This was a weird one

Can you tell me anything about any effects on stevia? My family grows it in our back yard and ever since my dad got cancer we have been using it instead of sugar and for cooking.

Okay, but why does Sorbitol affect my GI tract so badly? Admittedly it's pretty sensitive already but Sorbitol and Aspartame both cause IBS flare ups for me. You really only talked about cancer, which is frustrating.

I wish you would have explored the weight gain research concerning diet soda more thoroughly. Great episode!

In the 50's there were ads with doctors promoting cigarettes just like this guy is now promoting artificial sweeteners.

This was one of our lectures in a healthy aging course that I took last semester. Now while I am open to the topic of using artificial sweeteners I found it difficult to agree with some of studies. First of all I find it hard fathom the thought of consuming coal tar (saccharine) to slim down my waistline, but if that suit your fancy go for it. Another thing that we talked about in our lecture was the fact that the substitute sweetener packets say “two times sweeter than sugar.” My thought on this is that it would increase the bad habits of those consuming those products. As mentioned in the video it is up to the person to regulate their own habits when concerning their diet, but there is some truth to wanting more sugar. This could be part of the reason that many who use artificial sweetener are gaining weight. Furthermore it is important to look into who is doing the research and who is paying for them.

Most of the discussion in this video was focused on the link between artificial sweeteners and cancer. I'm wondering if there are similar studies involving the link between sweeteners and diabetes. My thinking is that a molecule that binds to glucose and sucrose receptors on the tongue would also do the same in the intestine. Activation of these GPCR's has been shown to trigger a greater release of insulin compared to the introduction of sugars via IV, which leads me to think there must be a signalling pathway between the intestinal absorption of sugars and the release of insulin from beta-cells in the pancreas. More insulin with a lack of sugar may lead to other long-term health issues, such as type-2 diabetes. I'm a medicinal chemist, not a biologist, so my knowledge of these signalling pathways is not 100%, but I'm sure somebody out there can correct me if I'm mistaken.

Given a choice between soda and diet soda, I choose hot tea with honey.

Maybe I should switch to diet soda, not because I need to lose weight, I'm actually underweight, but I know too much sugar carries many more more risks than just weight gain.

My understanding with saccharin and cyclamate was that it was an issue when mixed... saccharin was supposedly carcinogenic in super high amounts and cyclamate tended to amplify carcinogens... and often these two were mixed to mask each other's aftertaste... and that's why Canada banned the former while the US banned the latter.

Thank you for this, but I do have a question. I have poured one glass of Coke and one glass of diet Coke, giving them to my room mate. Both glasses being identical and in marked. He says he can tell the diet Coke every time because it makes his elbows itch. Do you have and explanation for this? Thank you.

Hahaha, outWEIGH the benefits! Hahah- no? Not funny? Damn :(

I am glad that this video is discussing the safety of artificial sweeteners and in particular talks about aspartame. I completely agree with him about how once a myth is out their and the media has a frenzy with it, it becomes extremely difficult to debunk a myth. Today I often here people who say they no longer drink diet sodas because of the aspartame and how it "causes cancer". I appreciate how this video goes into detail to show how that link and connection between the two is just not true. More people need to be educated on this topic about these artificial sweeteners and learn not to believe everything that is in the media.

Thank you! i have been very put off from all the bad things you hear from artificial sweeteners and have been addicted to coke for a long time. (even though i have been reducing my consumtion a lot) always thinking theres not much if any health difference between it and the zero or diet versions. And considering i love the taste of the normal way more never even considered switching. But i recently did after a lot of online reading trying to figure out if replacing the craving i have for coke with zero to make me at least make some lasting change. (stopping completely being very prone to failure and hard rebound) this has been helping. A bit like e-sigs for smokers. ITs not the best but its way better than all the normal i consumed. And you really seem to know what you are talking about and gave me the confidence to start doing this fully! Sorry for long message

This video seems to have a second point about the questionable reliability of applying non-human animal research to humans. I'd love to see a full video on that topic.

Oops. I was wrong about the insulin thing. Well, hey, learning is cool! I'll keep this in mind.

I've also heard that diet sodas contribute to loss of bone mass. Could that be because of the artificial sweeteners or because if you're drinking soda you aren't drinking something high in calcium?

Ok, so artificial sweeteners are safe. Now if only they weren't so nasty.

Why are commonly held beliefs about nutrition so pseudo-sciencey?

Of course they are! Just ask anyone who's ever eaten Haribo sugar-free gummy bears!

Are there any RCTs on aspertaine and ibs or nausea? I've always gotten a very upset tummy from diet soda and so do my kids and my mother.

Could you do a video on sugar alcohols? I recently read a couple of places that they can increase loose stool, especially in those with preexisting intestinal problems like IBD and IBS, but their references didn’t seem all that great, and I’d like to know more about whether is does or not, as I fall into the preexisting category. There seems to be a correlation between them and my loose stools, looking at my trigger foods, but obviously the issue of confirmation bias and other contributors make it hard for me to figure it all out and if it really is a causal factor.

The idea that anyone thinks the debate over artificial sweeteners is still driven by science is laughable. The industry powers responsible for creating these products don't care about the impact they have on people, they care about turning a profit. And I'm not just talking artificial sweeteners, but sweeteners in general. The artificial sweeteners carry an altogether different set of potential adverse health effects than regular sugar (and that's any sugar regardless of its source) but proving that artificial ones are not harmless is barely an issue of science. It's an issue of political lobbying and corporate greed at the expense of public health and to believe otherwise shows an alarming degree of naivete. All of this mass produced, cheaply refined, sweetened garbage is a literal metabolic poison. It doesn't matter whether it has sugar or some other lab-engineered compound pretending to be sugar. The whole reason this debate exists in the first place is because people have a fatal addiction to sugar and these artificial sugar replacements that have been served up to us as an alternative are an entirely different issue with their own set of problems. They're just different types of refined poison and you don't need much soul searching to realize none of it is in any way beneficial to the human body, and nobody can honestly stand up and legitimately justify the regular and/or habitual consumption of soda as it puts the human body well beyond a safe threshold of sugar consumption. Not every compound we consume has some immediately traceable biological result; there are countless interrelationships between what goes into us and how it is processed and metabolized, and those processes are not conveniently distilled into X causes Y, however the consumption of this garbage has a real and verifiable connection to metabolic disease. Our species hasn't spent countless generations adapting its way to the apex of our present state of evolution by guzzling refined sugar, or even some other artificial construct pretending to be refined sugar. Connect the dots of our evolutionary biology to the epidemic of metabolic dysfunction in the developed world. We never would have made it as a species because we'd have likely gone extinct from destroying our endocrine systems with refined sugar if there were anything like this stuff available for us to eat in the natural world. You don't see any animals out in the wild chugging down soda from rivers and streams, because it doesn't occur naturally in the wild, although I'm sure there's someone out there with some crafty science paid for by Coca Cola and Pepsico that explains why it wouldn't hurt the animals to have any. Cigarettes used to be "physician approved" once upon a time too when the tobacco industry had enough influence to lobby for that to be the status quo. Wake up, people. Here's a really novel idea: how about instead of drinking these metabolic poisons, start drinking clean filtered water and stop supporting the soft drink industry's efforts to feed this ridiculous chemical addiction of a nation of people too helpless to think for themselves and realize how stupid it is to consume this garbage, although I'm sure the idea of drinking water will sit well with the addlebrained sugar addicts who will find any excuse to justify the supposed harmlessness of soda consumption.

Artificial Sweeteners taste terrible. like awful. NO SODA is better than sugar free soda

I'm so thankful for the mythbusting you do on this channel. It's great to have videos like this that I can share to add facts to conversations about these topics among my friends. Keep up the good work!

in my nutrition class we saw a study that reveals that consuming artificial sweeteners cause glucolse intolerance? its a more recent study. can you tell me weather or not its a good study to base the consumption of sweetners

you know i might have taken you seriously but then you said that sugar, you know the energy source of life should be avoided compared to artificial ones. Bad metaphor or not "the incident economist" makes you sound like a very profit orientated organisation which if we look at the track record of profit organisations... its not good.

A lot of talk about no proof of artificial sweeteners being harmful yet the documentary Sweet Misery is full of proof.

I really love this channel, especially this episode. There is so much misunderstanding of artificial sweeteners. Like with GMOs, people have this weird predisposition to assume that because something is artificial, that it's bad for you. I'm not saying no artificially made products can cause harm, but they aren't all harmful.

Is there any plausible relationship between artificial sweeteners and kidney or liver problems?

I will be pointing out this video to people in the future who tell me that my drinking of diet sodas is worse than regular soda. In honesty, I would prefer to have regular soda. I would also prefer to not have type I diabetes, but you can't always get what you want in life, and while regular soda will make me sicker, diet soda does not. Still nice to know that artificial sweeteners are not completely bad for you in small doses

I wonder if there's a tendency for people to be more suspicious of things like artificial sweeteners than we are of other chemical food additives, like preservatives. Do people subconsciously think that because artificial sweeteners seem to allow people to do something "naughty" (enjoying sweets) without the natural consequences (getting fat) there must be a downside?

I recall hearing that certain sweeteners are problematic when it comes to digesting them, and that since the aren't digested properly it can harm certain organs as the body tries to process them. I know this is very vague, but i was curious if anyone knows anything about it.

Do artificial sweeteners still trigger an insulin spike that can lead to metabolic syndrome and type 2 diabetes? Making a risk comparison between regular and artificially sweetened sodas ignores healthy unsweetened options.

Question, did this video cover regular soda, or diet soda? (Either way i still think every diet soda tastes worse than its counterpart).

Artificial sweetners ruin perfectly good drinks. It's like purposely making something taste utterly digusting.

Are there any ways (backed by research) to help on the behavioural side of weight gain? Or what about addictive behaviours in general?

thank you for this video. I suggest to share the links to the studies you've referred to in your video

I just use regular sugar but I have a lot of friends and family who use saccharine and even more who drink diet colas containing aspartame. I have heard many things about the harms of these but never did any research on this. I am happy to hear that there are very little harms associated with them. It amazes me how many people get scared of things and the media has a field day with little information. According to the research he is speaking about the heightened level of brain tumors started 8 years before aspartame was introduces. I'm sure that all the media "forgot" to inform people of this news. Like he said, sugars are harmful to our body period. It can cause heart problems and diabetes but there has been no evidence of any cancers in humans associated with artificial sweeteners.

Can you do an episode on MSG and other common food additives?

What about the relationship between IBS and artificial sweeteners? Everything I can find (though I haven't come across an actual study) says they exuberate symptoms- and I can say drinking those fancy 0 calorie flavored water DEFINATELY gives me cramps. But, that could be the carbonation and lack of substinance to protect my stomach. I found some articles claiming saccharin causes IBD- but honestly that looks a lot like correlation rather than causation.

What do you make of the US v UK views on Sugar vs Fat? Saw a recent Horizon program from the BBC on it where one identical twin went on a high sugar/carb low fat diet and the other went on a high fat low sugar/carb diet. Wondered what you make of the difference of perspective doctors on both sides seem to have.

I really enjoyed this video. As i made my coffee this morning and put 2 packets of artificial sweeteners in it i did not even think twice. We've always heard our friends or family shoot down artificial sweetener or even diet pop saying " if you drink that you're gonna get cancer." But, in fact the research proves that there is no link between cancer and artificial sweeteners. Another thing I enjoyed about this video is how he disclaims any use of research on rats. I feel the same way rats are always getting cancer no matter what they are given. His point on how rats can get cancer even when given vitamin C. Why isn't that published if they see cancer in rats with vitamin C and we take vitamin C? Until there is concrete research showing a correlation between artificial sweeteners and cancer their should not be skepticism, people are usually to quickly to believe someone rather than finding out for them self.

could anyone direct me to if formaldehyde is created from when artificial sugar Acesulfame-K is left for a few days . I have noticed that it smells very strong of some type of paint thinners like acetone of some sort. I read that in Gulf war the Coke turned to formaldehyde under the tarps in the hot sun. So I am guessing similar mightt be occurring.I find this occurs in any juice concentrate that has Acesulfame-Kin it. Like Ribeana etc

Can you or anyone discuss the recently published article discussing the association between artificial sweeteners and dementia? Is concerning since we've learned that they are safe.

When I have anything sugar free with Aspartame in it, it gives me the runs almost straight away. Even if I didn't have much. Would there be a reason other than I have an intolerance to it?

It may not be dangerous to everyone, or even the majority, but there are definitely issues for some individuals. Aspartame specifically has warnings on packages because of the risk to people with PKU. The rest of my objection to it is just anecdotal (my mom lost days in a hospital while pregnant and we were led to believe it had been from the diet sodas - though that could be coincidental or due to something far more complex than *just* the one ingredient) and just flat out thinking it's disgusting. I can't stand the taste of the stuff, and it's used in just about everything "sugar free" - from diet sodas and sugar free deserts to the gum in the checkout lines and even some flavored waters.

Really enjoyed. I appreciate your address on soda with emphasis on how it is a treat. As a dentist, I see early childhood caries all the time and was wondering if you would like to do an episode on dietary habits of children and getting them off on the right foot.

Honestly, I just wanted to write to say thank you for all of these videos. You are giving clear and concise answers to health questions that people have, and get wildly divergent answers to online. I have family who are vegan, paleo, super-strict calorie counters and doctor-phobics (not all at once ;) ) and I try to get them in on seeing these videos all the time, often in response to foward-chain style screeds against things like artificial sweeteners. You are doing great work!

This is quickly becoming my favorite channel on KZfaq

My suspicions about artificial sweetener and diet: I think that when someone drinks a sugared soda and switches to diet they will subconsciously eat more to replace those calories unless they are closely watching what they eat. However I think this would also happen with switching from sugared soda to water. I think this is how studies came about saying that you eat more when drinking diet soda because they found people ate more when switching between sugared and diet. I don't really have research to back myself up though these are just my suspicions.