Are sweeteners as a sugar substitute not as healthy as you thought?

Research shows that high-consumption sweeteners used as sugar substitutes in beverages are associated with a higher risk of heart disease. According to the researchers, artificially sweetened and sweetened foods could lead to cardiovascular disease. This suggests that such products may not be the healthy alternative as the manufacturers claim.

How dangerous are sweeteners as sugar substitutes?

Diet weight loss drinks that contain sweeteners as sugar substitutes could adversely affect metabolic heart health, according to the new research letter. Artificially sweetened drinks have been suggested as a healthier alternative, but their effects on cardiovascular health are not fully understood. In this article, the researchers looked at data from the French NutriNet-Santé cohort study. They wanted to establish a connection between that risk and the consumption of sugary drinks in combination with artificially sweetened drinks. Artificially sweetened beverages were defined as those that did not contain nutritious sweeteners. The sugary variants consisted of all drinks that contained 5% or more sugar. For each beverage category, the participants were divided into non-consumers, low consumers and high consumers.

The researchers examined the first cases of cardiovascular disease during the follow-up examination from 2009 to 2019. These were subsequently referred to as stroke, transient ischemic infarction, myocardial infarction, acute coronary syndrome, and angioplasty. After excluding the first three years of the follow-up exam to account for possible reverse causality bias, 1,379 participants had their first cases of cardiovascular disease. Compared to non-consumers, both heavy consumers of sweetened and artificially sweetened beverages had a higher risk of cardiovascular disease after accounting for a large number of confounding factors. In addition to such a high risk of heart health problems, the study may have other requirements and regulatory implications.

Results of the study

This study suggests artificially sweetened drinks may not be a healthy substitute for sugary drinks. The data also provides additional arguments to stimulate the current debate on taxes, labeling and regulation of sweetened drinks and artificially sweetened drinks. However, the researchers admit that a causal link will be needed between sweetened and artificially sweetened beverages and cardiovascular disease, replication in large prospective cohorts, and mechanistic studies.