They put sugar in bread!
Try buying sliced bread without added sugar in the UK, not as easy as you might imagine.
Or "fresh" soup without added sugar. It annoys me almost as much as the "no added sugar" claim...... there's no added sugar because they have sweeten the product with chemicals which are even more suspect than sugar. Either sweeten with sugar or don't bother sweetening it.
They put sugar in bread!
Is there any worse smell in the world that that terrible sickly sweet sugary bread smell they pump out of Subway shops?
It’s has me gippin’
there’s no added sugar because they have sweeten the product with chemicals which are even more suspect than sugar.
Those "chemicals" are some of the most tested foodstuffs on the planet (not least because of the hysteria from some quarters). You're far better off with artificial sweeteners than something laden with sugar. It's basically the "vaping is bad" argument again, it well may be but it's still better than 40 Lambert a day.
You’re far better off with artificial sweeteners than something laden with sugar.
That's your opinion and not one that I share. Based on both personal experience and properly conducted research.
Even "natural" sugar substitutes such xylitol have been shown to have the potential to cause serious harm*.
Everything doesn't have to be ridiculously sweet and if you want to cut down on your sugar intake then eat less sweet stuff. Simple
Edit: * Obviously in large quantities
Night Nurse?
Change the colour, a spot of rebranding and we’re in business @kelvin
When we used to go out clubbing a mate of mine used to take his own body weight in MDMA and pink champagne, then when we got back in he’d chug a whole bottle of Night Nurse then go to bed.
Kind of puts things in perspective in the ‘saving people from themselves’ stakes, doesn’t it?
Having said that he did die from a massive heroin overdose, so maybe they’ve got a point
That’s your opinion and not one that I share.
Well no, it's not. The sheer volume of testing performed on things like Aspartame, the poster boy for the tinfoil hat brigade, is well documented. I could google it but then so could you.
Obviously in large quantities
... which is doing some heavy lifting here. Xylitol is known to have a laxative effect in sufficiently large quantities. Aspartame is 200x sweeter than sugar, you'd have to try pretty hard to consume a large quantity. If you fill up rats with the stuff until they explode then yes of course, "in large quantities" is usually bad whatever the substance. It's possible to overdose on water for goodness sake.
But that's still got to be better than a can of Coke with 40g of sugar in it. Can you imagine getting a cup of tea, being asked "sugar?" and answering "yes, 40 please."
So I did google it.
The WHO:
https://www.who.int/news/item/14-07-2023-aspartame-hazard-and-risk-assessment-results-released
"with a can of diet soft drink containing 200 or 300 mg of aspartame, an adult weighing 70kg would need to consume more than 9–14 cans per day to exceed the acceptable daily intake, assuming no other intake from other food sources." Ie, north of 3 litres a day. Drinking full-far Coke, that would be an entire half-kilo bag of sugar.
The NHS (with a link to a big-ass list on the FSA):
https://www.nhs.uk/live-well/eat-well/food-types/are-sweeteners-safe/
"All sweeteners in Great Britain undergo a rigorous safety assessment before they can be used in food and drink. All approved sweeteners are considered a safe and acceptable alternative to using sugar."
I suppose that's also, like, just their opinion, man.
Yes it's your opinion. All sugar substitutes used in processed foods have been shown to be perfectly safe until the research which shows that they are not.
Xylitol is known to have a laxative effect in sufficiently large quantities.
And more recently it has been linked to heart attacks and strokes :
Common sugar substitute linked to increased risk of heart attack and stroke
I actually use xylitol btw but in very small amounts, never more than two teaspoons per day - one in a mug of coffee in the morning and one in a mug of coffee in the afternoon. But I don't want it added to everything that I eat and drink.
The reason I use xylitol is for weight and blood sugar control, I am also aware that it is highly beneficial to your teeth.
Obviously large amounts of ordinary sugar is bad for your health and can contribute to heart disease and strokes but it doesn't mean that it should be substituted for large amounts of other sweeteners.
Using sugar substitutes and claiming "no added sugar" as if that somehow makes it healthy is ridiculous imo, although not apparently in yours.
Tbh after reading that ^^ article carefully I am not sure that I want to carry on using xylitol at all. I was aware that research in the last couple of years had linked xylitol to heart disease and strokes but it was suggested that this was in the case of large amounts.
The above article is only 3 months old and suggests a link with much smaller amounts of xylitol. Wtf :
"All it takes is xylitol to interact with platelets alone for a very brief period of time, a matter of minutes, and the platelet becomes supercharged and much more prone to clot,”
As I said, all the research shows that these new additives in modern food production are perfectly safe until the research which shows that they aren't.
The question is do you want to wait for the research which shows that they are dangerous or do you want to rely instead on ingredients which have been used for thousands of years and whose effects we understand much better?
Apparently xylitol is extremley toxic to dogs, not sure about other pets.
I had to bin a load of Huel powder as it contained it... not that I'd planned on feeding my dog protein shakes, but I didn't want the risk of any accidents if I spilled any.
I think they have since stopped using it as a sweetener so would only affect older batches.
TBH i'm very much of the school of just use proper sugar, but a lot less of it... same with spreads... proper butter every time, you don't need much.
Getting back to the original topic… sorry and all that, with the subject of artificial sugar being so fascinating… I was in a beer garden a couple of hours ago and and older couple wandered in, sat at the next table and he got a pint and lit up a proper Sherlock Holmes style pipe. A PIPE!
The bastard!
Give it another few months and I’ll be able to dof him in to the feds and there’ll be an armed response unit on the way and he’ll have the rest of his life behind bars to reflect on what he’s done.
And we as a society will all be better off for that
TBH i’m very much of the school of just use proper sugar, but a lot less of it… same with spreads… proper butter every time, you don’t need much.
Exactly.
Margarine is the the sweat from the devils arse-crack
Butter every time.
Lets ban butter next then, because… the NHS or something
Common sugar substitute linked to increased risk of heart attack and stroke
"Linked." ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Even your article states that there's no evidence of causation.
Using sugar substitutes and claiming “no added sugar” as if that somehow makes it healthy is ridiculous imo, although not apparently in yours.
You can't resist having a little dig, can you.
Is "no added sugar" implicitly healthy, of course not, it would be stupid to make that claim without qualifying it. But is it healthier than consuming a pound of actual sugar every day, Christ, I almost contracted Type 2 Diabetes diabetes just typing that.
Are you asserting that the NHS is wrong? The FDA? The World Health Organisation? It's possible of course, but we're going to need more to go on than "linked."
The question is do you want to wait for the research which shows that they are dangerous or do you want to rely instead on ingredients which have been used for thousands of years and whose effects we understand much better?
I think I'd rather wait for the research which disproves something which multiple health organisations across the globe agree upon after strenuous testing, rather than rely instead on "ingredients which have been used for thousands of years and whose effects we understand much better" when that well-known better understanding is that it is refined sugars are terrifically bad for us.
That said, it seems that such wholesale consumption in the West is relatively recent. This is worth a read.
But is it healthier than consuming a pound of actual sugar every day
I would hope no-one is consuming that amount of any type of refined sugar or sweetener.
Apparently xylitol is extremley toxic to dogs
Oh, yeah. This crops up on Facebook memes from time to time, but it seems that for once it's one which is actually true. I think it's fine for other animals though, or at least not as catastrophic as it is with dogs.
Apparently (I discovered just now when checking Ernie's claims) human toothpastes can contain xylitol, that's worth knowing if you decide that Fido has a bad case of dog breath.
You can’t resist having a little dig, can you.
Are you for real? You are challenging absolutely everything I say and make snidey references to, quote, "the tinfoil hat brigade". That's not having a little dig? FFS
I couldn't give a monkeys if you think, for example, that xylitol is perfectly safe, I have no intention of trying to change your mind. Consume as much as you want, why do think it might be an issue for me? I provided a link about recent research concerning xylitol and if the conclusion you come to is that it's perfectly safe then that's great, you have nothing to worry about.
I am simply expressing the opinion that I don't like the amount of artificial sweetness added to processed foods. This is for a number of reasons including that I don't think they are particularly healthy. IME they have negative effect on the digestive system. Obviously you don't have to agree with me.
Are you for real?
You do this all the time. You make little snipes at people - not just me - and then act all innocent when they object. It's pretty tedious TBH.
You are challenging absolutely everything I say
I'm challenging something you're dismissing as "opinion" which is readily googlable.
and make snidey references to, quote, “the tinfoil hat brigade”. That’s not having a little dig? FFS
For what it's worth, and I apologise here if it was poorly worded on my part, that wasn't directed at you.
I am simply expressing the opinion that I don’t like the amount of artificial sweetness added to processed foods. This is for a number of reasons including that I don’t think they are particularly healthy.
If you'd said that at the outset rather than claiming "chemicals... are even more suspect than sugar" then I wouldn't have disagreed with you.
So… cakes? …. ban them or not?
then I wouldn’t have disagreed with you
I am not asking you to agree with me. I made a general comment that I don't like the "no added sugar" claim on products to which they add a lot of artificial sweeteners. You decided to challenge me on my personal opinions including whether their are any health risks associated with xylitol.
I have no desire in trying to get to agree with my dietary preferences. Personally I think yours are weird, including the fact that you are, I believe, a vegan, and you get angry when the term "ultra processed foods" is used. You also apparently get angry when people would rather not consume artificial sweeteners.
What you eat is your business, not mine. In a similar way what I choose to eat and not eat is my business. Hope that clarifies
My business idea is to market one at parents to buy for their kids that contains Valium
Good market huge market.
I'll go 30/70 with you but it must be marketed as KidChillax. I've got loads of innovative ideas, gel impregnated dummies that slowly release the magic elixir over a few days. For the most difficult and trying cases a more permanent solution called Golden Silence.
I made a general comment that I don’t like the “no added sugar”
You said it was worse than added sugar.
I have no desire in trying to get to agree with my dietary preferences.
I have no opinion on your dietary preferences, I couldn't care less about what anyone else eats.
Personally I think yours are weird, including the fact that you are, I believe, a vegan
You however seemingly have an opinion on mine. I'm not vegan.
and you get angry when the term “ultra processed foods” is used. You also apparently get angry when people would rather not consume artificial sweeteners.
I don't get angry. I do push back when conjecture and pseudoscience is presented as fact. This is how we learn things.
What you eat is your business, not mine. In a similar way what I choose to eat and not eat is my business. Hope that clarifies
No arguments here.
