Artificially Sweetened Beverages Really the Best Alternative?

An increasing number of people are being more self-conscious about their calorie intake.  One of the most common calorie trap people fall into comes from the beverage they drink – soft drinks. Here, I have used Coca Cola as our example since it is currently the best-selling soft drink in the world. In a 355mL can of Coca Cola Classic, it contains 39 grams of simple sugar making up 140 calories (1, 2)!

Amount of sugar in various sizes of Coca Cola Classic

With the general public recognizing the trend towards a low calorie diet, so does the Coca Cola Company. In response to this, they have two sweet alternatives: Diet Coca Cola and Coca Cola Zero (3). Both of these products have abandoned the use of sugar but used artificial sweetener instead. The result seemed to be quite profound where both products have zero calories per serving! This appears to be an incredible alternative for soft drink lovers who need to control/maintain their weight and sugar intake (especially for diabetics and obese individuals).

Coca Cola Diet

Coca Cola Zero

However, there are many health concerns related to artificial sweeteners that have not been entirely resolved (4). The most common artificial sweetener used in sugar-free beverages is aspartame for its inexpensiveness and commercially availability.  Even though it has been approved by various countries around the world, many controversial side effects (e.g. headaches, mood disorder, cancer, etc.) have been suggested to be caused by aspartame. Another fact unknown to the majority of the general public is that aspartame has an Acceptable Daily Intake value. Although most people would not reach the ADI value, it is possible that some individuals may over-consume aspartame over a long period of time.

Aspartame

Acesulfame Potassium

Another popular sweetener is called Acesulfame Potassium (a.k.a. AceK). Despite the fact that it is being used in over 100 countries around the world, it lacks proper testing and long term studies regarding health concerns (5). Some scientist proposed that AceK to be carcinogenic leading to the cause of liver and kidney problems, and cancer in humans. Although no studies have supported these findings, there are also no studies to go against these theories. 

Even though the two artificial sweeteners noted above have been approved by various food and safety departments all over the world and have been used in popular beverages for several decades, their safety concerns have not been fully resolved to ensure complete satisfaction. In addition, in our example Diet Coca Cola and Coca Cola Zero, their use of artificial sweetener is not limited to aspartame and AceK. The combination of sweeteners varies, depending on which country you are located and the availability of different sweeteners at that time (3). Therefore, it lacks consistency and credibility as to how sweeteners would affect people. In conclusion, ingesting 39 grams of simple sugar in one simple beverage is harmful to your body. But are you sure you want to ingest a chemical compound that has no proven benefit to your body? If you just want to quench your thirst, water (possibly with a slice of lemon) would do the trick!

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