Science- The WHO has advised against using artificial sweeteners for controlling weight.
- It reviewed almost 300 studies assessing the potential health effects of artificial sweeteners.
The World Health Organization has advised against using sweeteners for long-term weight loss in new guidelines.
The recommendation, published on Monday, is based on a review of 283 studies involving different countries that assessed the potential health effects of sweeteners.
The review found that not only do sweeteners appear not to help with reducing body fat long-term, but long-term use could increase the risk of type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular diseases, and mortality.
The WHO said the guidance relates to all non-sugar sweeteners, with common types including: aspartame, saccharin, sucralose, stevia, and stevia derivatives. It should be taken in the context of its existing recommendations to cut down on sugars and its other guidance on healthy eating, the organization said.
The recommendation may come as a shock to Americans who are consuming less sugar and more sweeteners, Insider previously reported.
The WHO said the guidance applies to all adults and children, except those with diabetes because they were not included in the studies. They were written for people involved in developing policies in nutrition and public health to interpret, rather than for members of the public to adopt.
People should reduce the sweetness of their diets
Francesco Branca, WHO director for nutrition and food safety, said in a statement that people should find other ways to reduce their sugar intake instead of using sweeteners, such as consuming unsweetened food or drinks, or eating food with naturally occurring sugars such as fruit.
Sweeteners have no nutritional value, and people should reduce the sweetness of their diets altogether to improve their health, he said.
Experts not involved in the review said the findings were limited because they were based on studies that didn't have robust findings.
Dr. Duane Mellor, a registered dietitian and senior lecturer at Aston Medical School, UK, said in a statement that sticking with sugars to avoid sweeteners isn't the best choice either, and suggested sweeteners could still have a place in our lives as a stepping stone on the way to cutting down sugar intake.
Commenting on the possible links between the long-term use of sweeteners and certain diseases, Tom Sanders, professor emeritus of nutrition and dietetics at King's College London, UK, said the quality of the evidence to back this up was low.
He also said the review would have benefited from considering the health impacts of artificially sweetened drinks versus drinks sweetened by sugar, and said that some trials have shown that replacing sugary drinks with diet drinks in children may help prevent unhealthy weight gain.
Diet drinks may come with their own problems, however, with a study published in February suggesting that low-calorie sweeteners found in some diet drinks may increase the risk of heart attack and stroke.