Artificial sweeteners. Definitive list of negatives! page

[OnlyBodyWeight]

1) They make you hungrier (by suppressing leptin/grehlin/peptide-Y) ??
2) They make you crave real sugar ??
3) They cause cancer ??

What are the realities? Any links for more reading are appreciated.

[bloodorchid]

just personal experience, they make me feel hungry even after i've eaten

[Dirlot]

!) They are artificial and taste that way.
2) What is wrong with honey, maple syrup, etc if you need something sweet?
3) My taste-buds have grown up and I don't need a big sweet taste to be satisfied

[Jena]

I use them occasionally, but for the most part I just go without any sweetener. I use stevia or Splenda in my coffee (not a daily coffee drinker though. I wouldn't say it makes me crave sweets more, but it doesn't really satisfy my sweet tooth either. I will use honey unless I am trying to cut carbs/calories that day. In the end if I want something sweet that badly... then I just have something sweet and bad for me. Once a month or so... and it doesn't seem to have stalled my progress. Luckily I have always been a salty/savory lover!

[AuroraB]

Exitotoxins.org
Flavor Enhancers and Artificial Sweeteners:
Artificial Sweeteners -- More Dangerous than You Ever Imagined

A little light reading...

[Damiana]

I'm sure others will have different experiences but for me, sugar-free sweeteners don't taste terrible. They actually taste just fine, unless I use too much in something. From my experience they do not make me crave sugar, they actually let me have that bit of sweetness that I need. I can afford the calories in real sugar, but I'm used to the artificial stuff, and I was never a big sugar user anyway. I'm not sure about the cancer causing thing, the studies done have said there's not a cancer link, but for all the chemical it contains, I'm pretty sure it's no worse than a SAD diet of chemical-laden processed foods.

[OnlyBodyWeight]

To clarify, I don't care about the debate about taste, just the actual health and diet implications.

[cori93437]

Here's Mark's break down article on sweeteners...
On the Question of Sweeteners | Mark's Daily Apple
I can tell you that 100% without a doubt the "excitotoxin" thing is true in Equal/NutraSweet/Aspartame... it is a trigger for many people with Migraines.
I don't consider any of that chemistry lab stuff very healthy.

I do use a small amount of stevia drops.
Sweet Leaf brand... there is an after taste if you use too much, but there is a funky taste with the artificial sweetners too. So you can't ever have things really sweet.
I'm not sure you should want them REALLY sweet anyway... *shrug*

If I want a full on dessert experience is use real honey or maple syrup. Or natural cane sugar like sucanat.
I sometimes sweeten baked winter squash with a couple of finely chopped medjool dates...

[jfreaksho]

My wife buys those "Emergen-C" packets sometimes. Those have both sugar and stevia in them, and I can taste the fake sugar. Yes, it is sweet, but there's something else there that isn't quite right.

We don't use any stevia outside of that, and keep real sugar on hand for special occasions.

She gets instant migraines from all the other fake sugars, so we don't do any of that at all.

[OnlyBodyWeight]

Exitotoxins.org
Flavor Enhancers and Artificial Sweeteners:
Artificial Sweeteners -- More Dangerous than You Ever Imagined

A little light reading...

Loved the Mercola article. Exactly what I was looking for. Is Mercola unbiased and legit, or just another supplement selling quack?