Artificial sweeteners as environmental pollutants and health risks

Ban Artificial Sweeteners

Artificial sweeteners have been seen as a way to enjoy the drinks (e.g. soda) that are typically laden with sugar in a way that is healthy and responsible. However, artificial sweeteners do more harm than good. Indeed, the manifestations of bad results from the use of artificial sweeteners are multiple and they are messy. The author of this report will just cover three examples .These examples include artificial sweeteners being considered a pollutant, sweeteners making things harder health-wise for patient with anorexia nervosa and the altering of metabolic function over time in mice test subjects. While there are some goods to artificial sweeteners and their user, there would seem to be a lot more "bads" and this should dictate its non-use going forward.

Analysis

The idea that components of low-calorie food could or should be considered a pollutant may seem like a striking idea to some. However, that is precisely what was ascertained when a group of scientists looked at a series of people non-sugar sweeteners. These sweeteners included acesulfame (ACE), aspartame, cyclamate (CYC), neotame, neohesperidine dihydrochalcone, saccharin (SAC) and sucralose (SUC). What was assessed was whether trace amounts of these sweeteners could be spotted and identified in wastewater pools and troughs. In the end, there were absolutely traces of ACE, CYC, SAC and SUC detected. CYC and SAC are usually degraded by about ninety percent when they are detected in wastewater, the same cannot be said for others. For example, ACE and SUC often go through such systems without being changed in the slightest. In other words, they go through the human body and through much of the wastewater system without being changed or broken down at all. At the very least, it can still be deciphered what they are relative to their source (Lang, and Scheurer, and Heinz).

However, to truly identify the potential dangers of artificial sweeteners, one needs to look at what they actually can do to the human body. This is usually studied in a laboratory through the use of rats and other animals since testing on human subjects is less than optimal if there is any risk to health involved. Indeed, one study found that the aforementioned Acesulfame Potassium (referred to as ACE in the prior section) is apparently metabolism-altering for rats and mice that are exposed to it. To be precise, they sate that it alters metabolic function in C57BL/6J mice. This is certainly a blow given the wars that are being fought against obesity and so forth. However, it is what it is and should be studied (Cong). When it comes to human beings, the impacts of things like caffeine and artificial sweetener in addition to fluid intake has been studied in anorexic patients. The study notes that the "misuse of these substances can be significant." Issues for artificial sweeteners are listed as intestinal pain, bloating and loose stools (Marino).