Which Would You Choose?

Most are more familiar with sports drinks and tend to grab for one when wanting to hydrate. The FDA has given it's approval of sports drinks even with a ton of research pointing to the unhealthy ingrdients such as the artificial colors and sugars. A recent study shows that both sacharine and aspartame are toxic to your digestive gut microbiome.

The investigation measured the toxicity of six artificial sweeteners (aspartame, sucralose, saccharine, neotame, advantame, and acesulfame potassium-k) and 10 sport supplements containing these artificial sweeteners. The bacteria found in the digestive system became toxic when exposed to concentrations of only one mg./ml. of the artificial sweeteners, making the current approved “acceptable daily intake” of artificial sweeteners—which (for the average adult), is 3,409 milligrams a day—look quite bizarre (for perspective, a 12-ounce can of diet soda contains around 200 milligrams).

The experiment was conducted by modifying bioluminescent bacteria, which glow when they detect toxicants and act as a microscopic ‘canary in the coal mine’. When exposed to artificial sweeteners like Aspartame, they duly lit up. In ‘light’ of this, professor Ariel Kushmaro, John A. Ungar Chair in Biotechnology in the Avram and Stella Goldstein-Goren Department of Biotechnology Engineering, concluded, “This is… evidence that consumption of artificial sweeteners adversely affects gut microbial activity which can cause a wide range of health issues.”

Artificial sweeteners are used in countless food products and soft drinks with reduced sugar content (think diet coke, Powerade, store-bought muffins etc.). Many people consume this added ingredient without their knowledge. Moreover, as reported by Science Daily, “Artificial sweeteners have been identified as emerging environmental pollutants, and can be found in drinking and surface water, and groundwater aquifers.” Yikes.

So what is the healthy alternative? You guessed it, coconut water.

If you must have sugar, there are alternatives to artificial sweeteners and they come in the form of real food. Some to try are honey, cinnamon, vanilla extract, cocoa powder and maple syrup.