The Adverse Effects of Consuming Artificial Sweetners

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Today a percentage of the population is addicted to sugar and over the years sugar has been given a bad reputation that if you consume too much you will have a higher risk of developing some type of disease. Well in attempt to live a healthy life, people today are relying on artificial sweeteners. With this notion, the question still today is whether or not artificial sweeteners are healthier then just consuming regular table sugar. This paper will discuss the adverse affects of consuming artificial sweeteners and the effects they have on a person’s body.

First, we have hydroortho-sulfa mine benzoic acid, also known as saccharin. With a name like that, its no wonder we refer to it as saccharin or that little pink packet. The molecular formula of saccharin is C7H5NO3S. Saccharin was first discovered in 1878 by a chemist named Constatin Fahlberg. He discovered saccharin when he didn’t wash his hands after fumbling with coal tar while working in the coal industry. Saccharin is three hundred times sweeter than regular sugar. If consumed in large quantities it can leave a chemical aftertaste. Saccharin is known to be in low fat jams, sodas, baked goods, as well as cough syrup.

Saccharin is an artificial sweetener that doesn’t get metabolized in our body. There is only a small trace of hydrolytic products detected in our urine. Therefore, saccharin goes through our body unchanged and not metabolized.

In addition, Saccharin has been known for potentially causing bladder cancer, but according to wpi.edu,“This study was disproved first because of the unreasonably high dosages of saccharin that rats were given, and secondly because differences in the mechanism in which saccharin produced bladder 55 cancer in rats were revealed.. Sodi...

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...l believe today that consuming too much of these artificial sweeteners can cause some real problems in our body.

References:

Liebman, B. (2010). SUGAR OVERLOAD Curbing America's Sweet Tooth.

(Coverstory). Nutrition Action Health Letter, 37(1), 1-8.

Obias, L. (2007). WHAT'S THE LATEST ON sugar SUBSTITUTES? Vegetarian Times, (347), 21-25.

Marr, I. (2012). ARTIFICIAL SWEETENERS FRIENDS or FOES?. Odyssey, 21(2), 13.

Schardt, D. (2004). Sweet nothings. Nutrition Action Health Letter, 31(4), 8-11.

Selim, J. (2005). Hitting the Sweet Spot. Discover, 26(8), 18-19.

Hull, J. (2005). the dangers of artificial sweeteners. Total Health, 27(1), 30-32.

Lebedev, I., Park, J., & Yaylaian, R. (n.d.). Popular Sweeteners and Their Health Effects. http://www.wpi.edu. Retrieved April 7, 2014, from http://www.wpi.edu/

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