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Has Achieved Nirvana |
I think people have been sold on the "I cut down on sugar" concept and have substituted with various artificial sweeteners. I think we're just figuring out that those products are just different and not necessarily better. But with respect to sugar....it's natural, but consumption of large quantities is also linked to adverse effects on health. All things in moderation, including moderation.... 
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Minor Deity |
On the one hand, though, sugar really is differently toxic for some of us - diabetics (a son), and those of who have special insulin reactions (like me). However, artificial sweeteners if nothing else do tend to come with paragraphs worth of multi-syllabic chemicals and when I face it, I'm sure they must be toxic in a myriad of ways. That's not even counting the possibility (raised here) that artificial sweeteners themselves have some unhealthful effects. When something generalizes (as is done here) about "artificial sweeteners" as a class, I am skeptical as there are so many. I'm sure they have different effects which aren't properly differentiated.
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| Has Achieved Nirvana |
If you want to drill down, the information is available. There's a link to the entire study as published in the BMJ in the OP. The study does break down some of the results by type of artificial sweetener.
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| Minor Deity |
I did look them up. I see that per this source, aspartame, sucralose and saccharine are baddies, while more tolerable are monkfruit, allulose, and Stevia. (Can't believe after all my research, I never heard of allulose - perhaps there's a better known brand name. By the same token, the one I rely on most (just ordered my usual 3 lb bag from Amazon), erythritol, isn't mentioned at all. (Wondering if it's another name for allulose as per my reading erythritol is reliable and digested such as not to cause problems.) I never use (that poison) Aspartame, but perhaps I'd be better off avoiding Splenda.
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| Has Achieved Nirvana |
I was responding to the above statement, and thought perhaps you missed the link to the study. I try to provide various levels of detail so people can read as much (or as little) as their interest and time permit. 
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| Minor Deity |
I know (and I appreciated it) as I would never otherwise have gone looking for specifics without your pointer.
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| Minor Deity |
And as far as individual sweeteners go, I think everyone knows by now that saccharine is carcinogenic. (Forgot to mention it.) To the bladder. At least strongly shown in lab animals and heavily suspected for humans.
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| Has Achieved Nirvana |
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| Pinta & the Santa Maria Has Achieved Nirvana  |
I'll confess, a Diet Dr Pepper is a splurge for me. I probably buy one maybe once every few months, or order it if we're out. I used to be a big diet soda drinker but really cut down about ten years ago. I can't handle drinking real soda, which was described to me once as "liquid candy." It's just got waaay to much sugar. So if I'm craving a soda, I get diet. As a general rule, I find that I'm removing lots of ersatz items from my diet--gluten free stuff (I have no gluten health issues), margarine (I generally use butter now), artificial sweeteners, meat substitutes, etc. I don't have any health reasons that would cause me to buy them, I rarely eat meat, and find that so much of these types of food are overly processed and have dubious health benefits without a specific issue that's driving the need. | |||
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| Has Achieved Nirvana |
Caught my eye when I was in the grocery store yesterday.  Haven't had it in years. Am enjoying it; for some reason sugar cubes bring out my inner kid.
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Has Achieved Nirvana |
I’m not a fan of sugar cubes. They remind of my polio vaccine when I was a little kid.
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| Has Achieved Nirvana |
Sounds like they bring out the inner kid in you, too. Just not in a good way... I'm so old, I got the polio vaccine as a shot.
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| Has Achieved Nirvana |
More on artificial sweeteners. https://www.theguardian.com/li...rmless-as-we-thought
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| Has Achieved Nirvana |
Interview with one of the authors of the recent study on Erythritol. https://www.pbs.org/newshour/s...risk-for-blood-clots
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| Minor Deity |
The authors point out that the very people who are most at risk of blood clots (hence stroke and heart attack) are the ones most apt to use artificial sweeteners. I'd just like to add a further consideration. A fair number of such people are currently taking blood thinners for irregular heartbeats. Those medicines are precisely to ward off blood clots to which the arrhythmias predispose them. That would mean that their risk of dangerous clotting has already been much reduced. Therefore, at least for them (many patients with cardiac issues) the level of risk is much less. I'm surprised none of these researchers pointed this out. Being one of them myself, it stood out as I read about the studies. Erythritol is my favorite artificial sweetener and I'd hate to have to cut it out of my diet unnecessarily as it helps me resist natural sugars.
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