Low-calorie sweetened beverages such as diet sodas that use aspartame or stevia may be a good replacement for full-sugar sodas and fruit juices, but researchers are still unsure about their long-term health effects, according to a new American Heart Association Science Advisory.
In the US, 32 percent of drinks consumed by adults and 19 percent of drinks consumed by kids in 2007-2010 contained low-calorie sweeteners, the AHA Nutrition Committee writes in the journal Circulation, July 30. "We've been emphasizing the negative impact of sugar-sweetened beverages for quite some time, but we receive a lot of questions about low-calorie sweeteners," said a coauthor of the advisory, Alice Lichtenstein, who directs the Cardiovascular Nutrition Laboratory at Tufts University in Boston.
The American Heart Association recommends no more than 100 calories, or 25 grams, of added sugar per day for women and 150 calories, or 37.5 grams, per day for men. That equals about six teaspoons and nine teaspoons, respectively. Kids and teens from 2 to 18 years old should take in less than 25 grams per day, and children under age 2 should have no added sugar, the authors note.
A 12-ounce can of regular cola, for instance, contains about 39 grams of sugar. The committee looked at evidence on the effects of regularly consuming any of six low-calorie, high-intensity sweeteners approved by the Food and Drug Administration - saccharin, aspartame, acesulfame-K, sucralose, neotame, and advantame - as well as stevia and monk fruit extract. These sweeteners contain few to no calories, which makes them an appealing choice when battling weight gain, diabetes and heart problems.
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