[LifeStyle] The use of sweeteners to control weight is not recommended

[#Steeven.™]

The World Health Organization (WHO) has published a new guideline on non-sugar sweeteners on Monday, in which it advises against their use to control body weight or reduce the risk of non-communicable diseases.

The recommendation is based on the results of a systematic review of the available evidence, which suggests that the use of non-sugar sweeteners does not confer any long-term benefit in reducing body fat in adults or children.

The results of the review also suggest that there may be potential undesirable effects of its long-term use, such as increased risk of type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular disease, and adult mortality.

"Substitution of free sugars with non-sweetened sweeteners does not help with long-term weight control. People should consider other ways to reduce their intake of free sugars, such as eating foods with natural sugars, such as fruit, or non-sugar foods and beverages. sugary", declared the Director of Nutrition and Food Safety of the Organization.

Francesco Branca has further clarified that these types of sweeteners are not essential dietary components and have no nutritional value. "People should totally reduce sweetness from the diet to improve their health from an early age," he added.

 

Products affected
The recommendation includes the results of studies conducted with adults, children, and pregnant women. However, the evaluation of the effects of sweeteners in people with pre-existing diabetes has not been incorporated as this was outside the scope of this guideline according to the authors.

On the other hand, the document refers to all synthetic and natural or modified non-nutritive sweeteners that are not classified as sugars and are found in manufactured foods and beverages, or are sold plain for consumers to add to foods and beverages.

Common non-nutritive sweeteners include acesulfame K, aspartame, advantame, cyclamates, neotame, saccharin, sucralose, stevia, and stevia derivatives.

According to the authors, there are certain products that contain these types of sweeteners that would not be affected by this guideline, such as toothpastes, skin creams and medicines, nor those that contain low-calorie sugars and sugar alcohols, which contain calories and therefore, they are not considered non-nutritive sweeteners.

 

Conditional recommendation
Following the Organization's processes for developing guidelines, the recommendation has been classified as conditional. This means that policy decisions based on it may require discussion depending on the specific national context, which may be linked, for example, to the extent of consumption in different age groups.

According to the WHO, the guideline has received this classification because the link observed in the evidence between sweeteners and disease outcomes could be affected by the baseline characteristics of the study participants and the complicated patterns of use of sweeteners. 

 

Improve diet
With the aim of improving the quality of the diet and reducing the risk of noncommunicable diseases throughout the world, the World Health Organization has developed and plans to publish a series of recommendations on healthy diets, among which is the guideline distributed this Monday.

The recommendations are directed at politicians at the national and local level; managers and non-governmental organizations of programs related to nutrition and the prevention of non-communicable diseases; healthcare professionals; nutrition scientists and researchers; educators; and representatives of the food industry.

 

https://news.un.org/es/story/2023/05/1521027