Has anyone had time to read this from the WHO yet.
And may be worth me tagging @JamesCollier on his opinion. It’s quite a hefty read at 200 pages and I’ve not had time to read it properly.
I’m no expert on artificial sweeteners, and I’m not anti-them (so far) and there widespread mixed opinion on their use, but I wonder what impact this message may have on food manufacturers, as artificial sweeteners are now in so many products (including some that are also heavily sweetened with sugars and their variants.
‘The current systematic review and meta-analysis by the World Health Organization (WHO) suggests that the use of low/no calorie sweeteners leads to modest yet significant reductions in body weight in adults without any significant impact on cardiometabolic risk, as assessed in randomised controlled trials (RCTs); in contrast, observational studies report a positive association between low/no calorie sweeteners and obesity or cardiometabolic diseases, which however is at risk of reverse causation.’
I spent some time diving into this, as with all things research, it was important to look at the full picture In this scenario, it is crucial to acknowledge the importance of exploring whether the outcomes observed in controlled laboratory environments (in vitro) can be replicated in actual living organisms (in vivo). It’s still unclear how these results directly relate to real-life situations after ingesting something.
I know, and I agree with that. The problem is there is no consistent evidence on the role artificial sweeteners play on human health, and like many things there are alternate view points and different studies using mice and bioluminescent bacteria provide different outcomes. And also I think (again I’m no expert) that saccharin is the most controversial of all artificial sweeteners despite being the original and historically widest used artificial sweetener.
And of course as research becomes more complex and in depth things that were once considered safe are now not safe and some that were considered unsafe are now safe.
In this scenario, it is crucial to acknowledge the importance of exploring whether the outcomes observed in controlled laboratory environments (in vitro) can be replicated in actual living organisms (in vivo). It’s still unclear how these results directly relate to real-life situations after ingesting something.