The World Health Organization (WHO) has published a new guideline Over the sweeteners not sugary like saccharin or stevia in which discourages use to control body weight.
The recommendation is based on the results of one systematic review of the available evidence, which suggests that the use of sweeteners does not confer any benefit long term in the reduction of body fat in adults or children.
The results of the review also suggest that there may be possible undesirable effects from use to long term of these products, such as increased risk of type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular diseases and adult mortality.
false weight control
“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 foods,” said WHO Director of Nutrition and Food Safety, Francesco Branca.
Likewise, the expert assures that have no nutritional value. “Non-sugar sweeteners are not essential dietary factors and have no nutritional value. People should totally reduce sweet taste from the diet, from an early age, to improve their health,” she said.
The recommendation applies to all people, except those with pre-existing diabetes, and includes all synthetic and natural or modified non-nutritive sweeteners that are not classified as sugars and are found in foods and beverages, or are sold plain for use. consumers add them to food and beverages.
Not applicable to hygiene products
Common non-nutritive sweeteners include acesulfame K, aspartame, advantame, cyclamates, neotame, saccharin, sucralose, stevia, and stevia derivatives.
The recommendation does not apply to hygiene products and personal care containing these sweeteners, such as toothpastes, skin creams and medicines, or low-calorie sugars and sugar alcohols (polyols), which are sugars or sugar derivatives that contain calories and are therefore not considered non-sugar sweeteners. sugary.
Discussion in specific contexts
Because the evidence-based link between sweeteners and disease outcomes could be confounded by study participants’ baseline characteristics and complicated patterns of use of these substances, the recommendation has been assessed as conditional, following WHO processes for guideline development.
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This indicates that policy decisions based on this recommendation may require a debate in national contexts specific, linked, for example, to the extent of consumption in different age groups.
The WHO guideline on unsweetened sweeteners is part of a set of existing and future guidelines on healthy diets that aim to establish lifelong healthy eating habits, improve diet quality, and decrease the risk of noncommunicable diseases in everyone.