What is Artificial Sweeteners and How does it work?

Artificial sweeteners are a hot issue of discussion. On the one hand, they're said to raise cancer risk and impair blood sugar and gut health. Most health authorities, on the other hand, consider them safe, and many individuals use them to cut down on sweets and lose weight. The research on artificial sweeteners and their health consequences is reviewed in this article.

What are artificial sweeteners?

Artificial sweeteners, sometimes known as sugar substitutes, are substances that are used to sweeten meals and beverages. They're commonly referred to as "strong sweeteners" since they have a taste similar to table sugar but are thousands of times sweeter.

Although certain sweeteners contain calories, the amount required to sweeten items is so minimal that you consume virtually no calories.

How does it work?

Many taste buds cover the surface of your tongue, each with numerous taste receptors that detect distinct flavours.

When you consume, food molecules come into contact with your taste receptors.

When a receptor and molecule are perfectly aligned, a signal is sent to your brain, allowing you to recognise the flavour.

The sugar molecule, for example, fits perfectly into your sweet taste receptor, allowing your brain to recognise the sweet flavour.

The molecules of artificial sweeteners are similar enough to sugar molecules to fit on the sweetness receptor.

They are, however, too different from sugar for your body to convert them to calories. This is how they achieve a sweet flavour without adding extra calories.

Only a small percentage of artificial sweeteners contain a structure that can be broken down into calories by your body. You consume essentially no calories because artificial sweeteners are used in such little amounts to make dishes taste sweet.

Some examples of Artificial Sweeteners are Sucralose, Aspartame, Neotame, Sodium Saccharin, Acesulfame Potassium, & so on.