Intermountain Health logo

Please enter the city or town where you'd like to find care.

Get care nowSign in

Health news and blog

    Weighing in on the Sugar Alternative Argument

    Weighing in on the Sugar Alternative Argument

    Artificial Sweeteners: Are they safe?

    As a registered dietitian at Intermountain Healthcare, Mindy Probst often discusses this topic with patients. "A lot of people expect me to tell them to stop drinking their favorite diet soft drink, but I don’t," she said. "I just remind them that moderation in all things is important."

    Are Sugar Alternatives Safe?

    Probst hears all sorts of concerns about the safety of sugar alternatives. One concern is that aspartame breaks down into methanol and formaldehyde in the body. Those two substances sound foreign and consequently scary to the everyday person, but according to the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics, your body produces formaldehyde daily "in amounts thousands of times greater than you would ever get from aspartame."

    Another concern Probst's visitors have is that large doses of methanol can lead to formic acid build ups (which causes methanol poisoning). But a study from the Journal of Toxicology and Environmental Health, published in 1981, showed adults who consumed 200 times the daily recommended amount of aspartame showed no change in formic acid levels.

    "People are concerned that artificial sweeteners are chemicals, and they are. All foods are," Probst said. "None currently on the market have been found to be inherently dangerous, but if you experience negative side effects when you consume them, don't use them."

    Some studies have shown replacing sugar with artificial sweeteners doesn't lead to weight loss, but Probst said these studies exclude important variables. Artificial sweeteners can trigger study participants' desire to eat more sweets, leading to overindulgence, and ultimately can limit weight loss. The general scientific consensus is that artificial sweeteners are better for weight loss than regular sugar.

    Artificial sweeteners are nothing to be afraid of. They may be a better choice than sugar most of the time, but that does not make them the best option, according to Probst. "While diet soft drinks in moderation aren't bad for you, water is still a better choice."