I've been experimenting with agave nectar as a sugar replacement in my home-made soft drinks (SodaStreams are awesome). It's got a much lower glycemic load, so no sugar rush compared to sugar. I tried some artificial sweetners, but for a mild recipe, you could always taste the sweetner. Overall though, I've found that in doing my own soda recipes, I actually like sodas that are far less sweet than most commercial brands; I have a hard time going back to sweet commercial sodas now.
+1 on the SodaStream, I find that a lot of the time I don't even add any flavour, just the soda water is a lot more refreshing and palatable than plain water.
I find I don't notice the artificial sweetener taste in most diet sodas anymore, like many things it's an acquired taste (I can't understand how anyone can drink coffee for example).
The corn syrup in most sodas now leaves a strong bitter taste in my mouth now, I can hardly drink them.
__________________ Uncertainty is an uncomfortable position.
But certainty is an absurd one.
Is it worth it to take a chance with artificial sweeteners, when a tried and true alternative is available, just so you can exercise less? I would have to say no.
You probably have a higher chance of dying from cancer from your weekly BBQ, the burnt bits on your toast, the nitrites in your bacon, the acrylamide in your french fries, the pesticides on your spinach, etc. than from any real issues from artificial sweetners.
I don't consume artificial sweetners myself except in soft drinks because there is no real alternative. Soft drinks with real sugar (or more likely high-fructose corn syrup!) simply contain a sickeningly unnatural level of sugar and I'm not about to give up Coke.
I've never heard of Sodastream. I will have to check it out.
Last edited by Hack&Lube; 09-11-2011 at 10:50 AM.
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The history of artificial sweeteners goes back pretty far.
Ah yes, the famous "Sugar of Lead". I find it funny that lead acetate actually tastes sweet. I've always wondered about the biochemistry of that and why it tastes sweet to us.
Aspartame was first synthesized in 1965 and was approved by the FDA in 1974. So it has been studied for 40+ years, very extensively, and has been verified safe by 90 countries.
Sucralose was discovered in 1976 and has been approved in Canada for 20 years. It is now approved in 80+ countries.
Acesulfame potassium was discovered to be a sweetener in 1967 and was approved by the FDA in 1988 so it has also been around and studied for quite some time.
These are all very misleading.
We're talking about potential effects that are very, very difficult to study. In very short term studies on "normal" doses sure, artificial sweeteners haven't shown adverse effects.
What about long term exposure? How do you study the effects on people over a life time? What if a small percentage react very negatively after chronic exposure?
I think the fact that sucralose, one of the first "proven" artificial sweeteners, is still shrouded in mystery speaks volumes about the topic. ~15% - 20% of sucralose is digested in the body and we don't know where it goes.
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Having looked at some of the safety testing, including having the opportunity a few years ago to see all the raw test data for a sweetener up for regulatory approval, I was a bit surprised how borderline some of the results were and how many holes there are in the testing for established sweeteners like aspartame. Still, there's enough data and enough experience with these chemicals that it's unlikely there are major adverse effects from normal usage; the more "borderline" effects were in animal studies with very high doses given. There was a study that came out a few years ago suggesting a link between aspartame at near normal amounts and cancer, but the study was severely flawed and other studies haven't shown the link.
The biggest data gap right now in my opinion is how artificial sweeteners might affect infants and very young children, who have very different metabolism than adults. While personally I don't think you should be feeding young kids anything that has been artificially sweetened anyhow, some people do.
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I think the fact that sucralose, one of the first "proven" artificial sweeteners, is still shrouded in mystery speaks volumes about the topic. ~15% - 20% of sucralose is digested in the body and we don't know where it goes.
Where did you get this information?
Sucralose is largely excreted in the urine and feces unaffected. Metabolism of sucralose gives hydrolysis products that are also excreted largely unaffected. Small amounts (much less than 15-20%) may be retained and metabolised as glucose and fructose. You make it sound as though nothing is known.
Full Disclosure: I do not like artificial sweeteners. Do not care for the taste and am also concerned of the long-term effects.
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"And whether or not it is clear to you, no doubt the universe is unfolding as it should."
The biggest data gap right now in my opinion is how artificial sweeteners might affect infants and very young children, who have very different metabolism than adults. While personally I don't think you should be feeding young kids anything that has been artificially sweetened anyhow, some people do.
This.
My mom is a diabetic and always has treats (candy, pop, yogurt etc) around which contain artificial sweeteners. I absolutely forbid her from giving any of these to my kids.
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Welp, I got smacked down. I personally try and get my sugars from fruits and other naturally occurring sources and even think just drinking coffee is madness. I've found that it's hard to recommend such a purist style to others and have them take it seriously and tend to propose a compromise. The middle ground certainly wasn't what I thought it was and I'm going to do some re-evaulating.
I am part of a weight-loss support group and we share our knowledge of nutrition and pool ideas on how to lose weight. There are a few vocal members that claim that artificial sweeteners are horribly bad for you and they have brought in articles that they found on the web. I just shake my head. The web is an utter glut of misinformation and it just gets spread and spread and spread. I looked up where most of these anti-artificial sweetener people are citing... and most of it leads here: http://www.holisticmed.com/aspartame/
So I searched that site looking for a name of an organization, a doctor, something with some credibility behind their claims. There are some damning links, but there is so much more evidence the other way....
So what I have said to my group is that if I am looking for something sweet... instead of ice cream I'm going to have a desert yogurt sweetened with an artificial sweetener. Because the health risks of being overweight from having too much sugar is PROVEN whereas there is tenuous and anecdotal links between artificial sweeteners and health risks.
And it bothers me that there is so much misinformation being spread out there... it's the same as the anti-vaccine people. People get scared. And it's the people that are overweight that are scared to have these artificial sweeteners and thus won't satisfy their sweet tooth with anything less than real sugar.
You could say "well you shouldn't have anything sweet ever", but you can also tell teenagers that they shouldn't have sex. Good luck with either of those.
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Sucralose is largely excreted in the urine and feces unaffected. Metabolism of sucralose gives hydrolysis products that are also excreted largely unaffected. Small amounts (much less than 15-20%) may be retained and metabolised as glucose and fructose. You make it sound as though nothing is known.
Full Disclosure: I do not like artificial sweeteners. Do not care for the taste and am also concerned of the long-term effects.
First hand from a Biological Chemistry researcher at U of C who was researching the topic at the time.
Quote:
Studies in human male volunteers showed absorption values in the range of 11 to 27 percent
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octothorp- can you give us some more info? Like where you get the agave nectar, and where you got the soda recipies?
I have recently cut out high fructose corn syrop from my diet; and if I can take a step that is even more healthy- so much the better.
As for artificial sweeteners, my body doesn't react well to any of them. When I asked my doctor if it was some sort of allergic reaction that could be controlled, he basically told me it was a good thing my body is reacting this way. He said his bet is that within 20 years these sweeteners will be pulled from the markets due to the long term effects to our bodies.
I get agave syrup at Planet Organic near Market Mall; I think most health food stores have it. I've only tried the 'raw' variety, there are a few different types of it with different amounts of processing, although in all cases the processing is a relatively minimal, low-temperature process. I honestly am not super-informed on the chemistry behind it, but I definitely notice the lack of a sugar rush and find the taste quite pleasant.
Some of the recipes are pretty high in sugar, but I find myself using the syrups at a far weaker ratio than what the book typically recommends.
The other store that I find indispensable is Silk Road Spice Merchants in Inglewood, where I can get a lot of the hard-to-find ingredients like Licorice Root and Sarsparilla.
Right now I've got a delicious birch beer soda syrup in my fridge, and another recent favorite I've done is an ancho chile soda.
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There are many other artifical sweeteners out there, including xylitol, erythritol, rebiana, etc.
The one I'm the most intrigued by is isomaltulose.
It may be more commonly known by some by its patented brand name, Palatinose.
I don't know how amazing it really is, or if it will ever become inexpensive enough for mass consumption (to actually displace many of other sweeteners from the market), but it continues to be granted approvals for its many bold claims from the FDA and European food/drug/health boards (not sure if it's been approved in Canada). [link1] [link2] [link3] [link4] [link5] [link6]
Pepsi + Whole Earth Sweetener Co. also utilize it in PureVia (their response to Coke + Cargill's Truvia), so it therefore already exists in very small concentration is products in the USA such as SoBe Lifewater (again, not sure about their Canadian products).
EDIT: Unfortunately, in my limited research on the product, I haven't yet come across any places to buy it online or in store.
I used to drink so much Diet Coke when I was younger I'm allergic to aspartame now. One sip of anything with aspartame gives me a horrible headache and makes me feel sick to my stomach. That stuff is absolutely rancid
I don't trust them, I tend to not trust almost any synthesized chemical as safe for human ingestion unless it is for strictly medicinal and non psychoactive purposes. The track record of how new chemicals have adversely effected humans has a lot of bad history involved. They are often just too strong and have a purity of synthesis that the human body can't handle. I just play it safe, maybe sweeteners are fine, but I'm not willing to risk cancer for a tasty drink.
So how do you combine the syrup with the sodastream? I take it you add water to the syrup in one of the containers, and carbonate?
I carbonate the water first, put syrup into the glass, and then add the carbonated water; this is primarily because my wife and I typically like a different amount of syrup in our sodas so I can customize it to our tastes.
Also, the Sodastream directions say not to carbonate any water that has syrups or other things added to it, but I don't know if it's actually something you can't do, or just a meaningless warning. There's pretty good fizzing when you add the soda water to certain syrups, and you might get a sudden reaction if you carbonated water that had a syrup in it. I honestly don't know, though.
Edit: For their own sryups, sodastream says you can add them directly to the bottle after carbonating. But the downside to this would be that you'd need to wash out the containers afterwards (can't put them in the dishwasher). Although you could just mix the syrup and water together in any empty 1-litre bottle, if you didn't want to measure it out each time you pour a glass.
Last edited by octothorp; 09-10-2011 at 06:29 PM.
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I have heard of people who have died from drinking too much alcohol (both short term and long term).
I have heard of people dying from nut allergies.
I have even heard of people dying from eating gluten.
...
I have NEVER heard of anyone dying from eating any approved artificial sweetener. Not to poop all over the thread, but this really seems to me like a huge "first world problem".
If you're drinking 5+ cans of diet pop a day, you probably aren't drinking enough water and that is where most people should be focusing their concern (IMO).
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