Artificial sweeteners may raise risk of heart disease, elevate blood sugar
Consuming a lot of artificial sweetener — from soda or flavored yogurt, for example — could elevate blood sugar and raise the risk of heart disease or stroke, studies suggest.
New research adds to mounting evidence that artificial sweeteners may be harmful to your health.
A study published Wednesday in the BMJ, which involved more than 100,000 adults in France, found a potential link between consumption of artificial sweeteners and heart disease.
The results showed that participants who consumed large amounts of aspartame — found in the tabletop sweeteners Equal and NutraSweet as well as cereals, yogurt, candy and diet soda — had a higher risk of stroke than people who didn’t consume the sweetener.
Similarly, people who consumed high quantities of sucralose — found in Splenda as well as baked goods, ice cream, canned fruit, flavored yogurt and syrups — and acesulfame potassium, often used in "sugar-free" soda, had a higher risk of coronary heart disease.
"Artificial sweeteners may not be a safe alternative to sugar," said Mathilde Touvier, the study’s author and a research director at the French National Institute for Health and Medical Research.
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