Are sugar-free drinks really "sugar-free"?

We found that all major beverage companies are now targeting the sugar-free hotspot, attracting a large number of young people who want to drink beverages in summer but are afraid of getting fat. However, this happiness always makes people feel unreal. Are sugar-free drinks really refreshing and healthy?

Are sugar-free drinks really "sugar-free"?

The sugar we usually refer to refers to white granulated sugar, sucrose, glucose, granulated sugar, etc.

Sugar substitutes can replace ordinary sugar, making the tasteless food sweeter and more delicious.

To use a popular analogy, the sugar is the real body, and the sugar substitute is his substitute.

Sugar substitute, isn’t there still a sugar word? And keep saying "sugar-free"!

Don't tell me, sugar substitutes are not the ordinary sugar we often say.

It is added to food as a food additive and sweetener, and it is marked in the ingredient list, so it is actually right for the merchant to label it this way.

What are the artificial "sugar substitutes" added to sugar-free drinks?

1. Sucralose (sucralose): artificial sweetener

Features: Sucralose is a non-nutritive strong sweetener, does not participate in metabolism in the human body, is not absorbed by the human body, has zero calorie value, and can be eaten by obese, cardiovascular and diabetic patients. In addition, sucralose does not cause dental caries, so it can be used in various health candies. But sucralose kills the good bacteria in your gut and may prevent your body from absorbing some medications.

2. Steviol glycosides: natural sweeteners

Features: It is a natural low-calorie sweetener, the calorie value is only 1/300 of that of sucrose, it is not absorbed by the human body after ingestion, and does not produce calories. It is a suitable sweetener for diabetics and obese patients. High temperature resistance, no fermentation, no coking when heated, decomposes under alkaline conditions, hygroscopicity, cool and sweet taste, with a slight bitter taste when the concentration is high.

3. Aspartame: artificial sweetener

Features: After being ingested by the human body, it will be transformed into aspartic acid and phenylalanine in the body. The taste is close to sucrose, without unpleasant aftertaste, and it is not heat-resistant. Has no effect on blood sugar levels and does not cause dental caries. However, since aspartame is converted to phenylalanine, it cannot be used in patients with phenylketonuria.

4. Acesulfame K: artificial sweetener

Features: No nutrition, good taste, no calories, no metabolism or absorption in the human body, good stability to heat and acid, etc. Regular consumption of foods with excessive synthetic sweeteners can cause harm to the liver and nervous system of the human body.

Further reading: Sugar-free drinks may not be healthy

Postmenopausal women who regularly drink diet beverages have a higher risk of stroke, according to a study by the Albert Einstein College of Medicine at Yeshiva University.

The so-called sugar-free drinks are drinks that replace sucrose with artificial sweeteners. Researchers evaluated 81,700 middle-aged and older women over a three-year period, asking them to report the number of diet drinks they drank in the preceding three months. After accounting for stroke risk factors such as age, high blood pressure, and smoking, the researchers found that women who drank two or three diet drinks a day had a higher risk of stroke than women who drank less than one diet drink per week or none at all 23%, the risk of ischemic stroke caused by cerebral thrombosis is 31%, the risk of heart disease is 29%, and the risk of all-cause death is 16%. The findings were published in the latest issue of Stroke, the journal of the American Heart Association.

Many people, especially those who are overweight or obese, believe that diet beverages reduce calories in their diets, but "our study and other observational studies show that artificially sweetened beverages are not Harmless, drinking more is associated with increased risk of stroke and heart disease." Because the study was limited to postmenopausal women, the results may not be generalizable to younger women or men. Also, the study only showed an association between drinking more diet drinks and an increased risk of stroke, not a cause-and-effect relationship.

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