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That diet soda may seem like a clever health hack, but could you actually be sabotaging your nutritional goals with those sugar substitutes?

With conflicting headlines about artificial sweeteners causing everything from cancer to gut disruption, it’s challenging to know what’s safe.

So, let’s try to cut through the noise and examine the evidence-based facts about sweeteners.

Understanding the Sweetener Landscape

First, let’s clarify what we’re talking about.

The U.S. has approved six artificial sweeteners:

• Aspartame (Equal)
• Saccharin (Sweet’N Low)
• Sucralose (Splenda)
• Acesulfame potassium
• Neotame
• Advantame

For natural alternatives:

• Stevia
• Monk fruit
• Thaumatin

There’s also a middle category of sugar alcohols, which contain fewer calories than sugar but more than zero-calorie sweeteners.

Common ones are:

• Xylitol
• Erythritol
• Maltitol

Despite myths about European regulations being vastly superior, Europe approves the same artificial sweeteners as the U.S., along with three additional ones, as well as stevia and thaumatin.

Monk fruit remains under review there, pending more data (not necessarily because it’s dangerous).

The Safety Science You Should Know

The approval process for sweeteners is rigorous.

Regulatory bodies determine safe consumption levels by feeding increasing amounts to animals until adverse effects occur, then dividing that pre-effect threshold by 100 to establish human consumption limits.

What does this mean practically?

For a 150-pound person to reach the FDA’s daily limit, they would need to consume:

• 17 cans of diet soda (aspartame)
• 51 packets of Sweet’N Low (saccharin)
• 26 packets of Splenda (sucralose)

For stevia, you’d need about 40 packets daily, which is above what is considered realistic.

Long-term research hasn’t shown concerning connections between sweeteners and serious health risks.

A 2024 study found no significant association between the consumption of artificial sweeteners and cancer mortality.

While there was a slight association with heart disease mortality, the explanation could be reverse causation — people with health problems often switch to diet products rather than the other way around.

This lack of clarity highlights the problem with association studies; even when a positive association exists, it’s essential to consider different reasons for the outcome.

The issue with sweeteners isn’t the compounds themselves but what they represent in your diet.

If you’re consuming large amounts of sweetened products, you’re likely displacing nutrient-rich whole foods like fruits, vegetables, and quality proteins.

This displacement creates two problems:

• First, you miss out on the vitamins, minerals, fiber, and phytonutrients found in whole foods.
• Second, regularly consuming intensely sweet foods adjusts your palate to expect sweetness, potentially making naturally sweet foods like fruit harder to enjoy.

Consider this: if you need six packets of stevia in your morning coffee, you might struggle to appreciate the subtle flavors of steamed broccoli, baked sweet potatoes, or grilled salmon — foods that form the foundation of a nutritious diet.

Practical Guidelines for Sweetener Use

Rather than fixating on whether a particular sweetener is “good” or “bad,” focus on your overall dietary pattern.

Here’s my approach:

1. Use sweeteners strategically as occasional tools, not dietary staples.
2. Gradually reduce sweetener amounts to retrain your palate, especially if you don’t enjoy the taste of whole foods.
3. Prioritize whole, minimally processed foods as the foundation of your diet.
4. If you enjoy sweetened products, be cautious about their volume if you consistently reach for sweetened candy over fruit, for example.

If you’re concerned about gut health, the evidence doesn’t support widespread alarm.

A recent 12-week controlled trial found that stevia consumption didn’t significantly impact gut microbiota composition. However, one of the confusing aspects is that sweeteners vary in their composition, so individual studies need to be conducted for each to reach a definitive answer.

The Sweet Spot: Balance Over Avoidance

The most sensible approach isn’t to vilify or glorify sweeteners but to find your personal balance.

Most people can include moderate amounts of sweeteners within a nutrient-dense diet without compromising their health goals.

• Remember, foods with sweeteners aren’t inherently unhealthy, but a diet dominated by them is likely to be.

The problem isn’t the presence of sweeteners but the absence of nutrient-rich whole foods.

By focusing less on what you’re eliminating from your diet and more on what you’re adding, you’ll naturally discover your optimal balance for both health and satisfaction.

—

EC Synkowski hosts the Consistency Project podcast, from which this article was adapted. She’s a CrossFit L4 Certified Coach, a Certified Nutrition Specialist®, and creator of the Three Pillars Method app.

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