www.foodconsumer.org - April 18th, 2012
When a new beverage comes out advertising “60% less sugar—drink it to believe it”—the challenge is on.
Same taste; fewer calories to your waist? Sounds good, doesn’t it?
But before you throw that Pepsi Next into your grocery cart, Fooducate.com suggests you complete the challenge by reading the ingredient label.
There you’ll find that, indeed, the sugar content has been reduced.
But it’s still the second ingredient after water—four teaspoons of it, in fact, in the form of high fructose corn syrup.
The secret to keeping this beverage sweet-tasting, however, comes further on down, in the form of aspartame, acesulfame potassium, and sucralose.
So, really, all that’s changed with this new beverage is that 6 teaspoons of sugar have been substituted with three sweeteners that are even worse.
Yes, although I strongly recommend avoiding all soda, you would be far better off with the high fructose corn syrup sweetened version.
Artificial sweeteners are frequently recommended as a practical way of replacing sugar found in the modern diet.
But the research on nonnutritive sweeteners such these three shows they’re far from healthful alternatives to sugar.
(A recent article on HealthyFellow.com lists a few of them as a handy reference .) First of all, contrary to popular belief, research has shown that artificial sweeteners can:
-Stimulate your appetite
-Increase carbohydrate cravings
-Stimulate fat storage and weight gain. In fact, diet sodas, which are well-known sources of artificial sweeteners, may actually double your risk of obesity!
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