Are Artificial Sweeteners Killing Your Health? - Dr Peter Attia

Peter Attia reveals his true thoughts on artificial sweeteners. Should we be worried about artificial sweeteners according to Peter Attia? What is Peter Attia’s favorite alternative to sugar? What are the most important metrics people should be looking at for health according to Peter Attia?

#longevity #artificialsweeteners #sugar

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[milij]

I consume very large amounts of artificial sweeteners and I'm perfectly fine apart from premature balding, ibs, crippling anxiety and chronic sleep issues 👌

[cloudbloom]

This is really interesting, i like how he doesn't straight up say yes or no and gives an explanation as to why. Thanks Chris, love your podcast🙏

[DoctorHemi]

This is pure anecdotal, but I'm 56 (and recently retired) and for many decades (since the late 1980's), I've consumed an extraordinary amount of aspartame, sucralose, acesulfame potassium, and other sweeteners in soda, coffee creamers, protein bars, "sugar-free" foods, "lite" foods, etc. I've been fit all my life and I feel just as fit now as ever (if not more so...being retired, I have more free time to dedicate to fitness). Occasionally, just for experimental purposes, I'll "cycle off" all artificial sweeteners for several weeks (usually 4-5 weeks) to see if I feel any different (strength, energy levels, sleep quality, etc.). So far, I've never felt any different. (I don't regularly monitor any health metrics, but whenever my blood pressure is measured, including a few weeks ago, it's always below the "normal" 120/80...usually 115/75 or so.)

[lucas]

I love how chris isn’t afraid to ask stupid questions, asked about a word and then asked about the condition that word describes without hesitation, thankyou

[Pdotta]

I appreciate the “define that” approach taken by the interviewer. Peter tends to talk over his audience.

[argoneonoble]

I love my artificial sweeteners. Coke Zero is my favorite drink.
Sucralose tastes better than aspartame.
I also do stevia and monk fruit.
I'm a 47 yo professional dancer, I do kickboxing as my cardio, and I'm very flexible. I look 35. In the dark I'm mistaken for being in my 20s because I am very bouncy.
I love my sugar replacers. I've always had a sweet tooth, and I'm happy to be staving off tooth decay and diabetes.

[Iceman-xejo]

I love Peter using real science behind his information instead of many you tubers making bogus claims.

[angrytigger]

As a brit holidaying in America, I couldn't believe how sweet everything tasted. Even things like bread and pasta tasted sweeter.

[BarryFranks]

Everything is fine when balanced. Coke Zero is amazing as an occasional treat and infinitely better as a replacement to sugar drinks or alcohol. It helps me curb cravings while I’m on my current lifestyle. Weight is way down, strength is way up and I feel great. Demonizing artificial sweeteners in isolation makes zero sense. In the context of doing mostly good things otherwise, it’s harmless.

[itsrorymurphy]

I experienced that sensation with blueberries, they're the sweetest thing I eat now! Great content Chris, keep it up! ❤

[petertwiss]

Very true. I stopped drinking Diet Coke because I noticed I crave sugary foods after 4 hours after drinking it. Now I barely crave sugar foods. Sucks because I really loved my Diet Coke.

[mjbfootball]

As someone who is addicted to pepsi max (zero sugar/calories). The huge side effect i have is craving sugar, which i can deal with. I can discipline myself into not eating sweet stuff, despite drinking pepsi max all the time. Other than that i don’t have any health issues eventhough i have been a constant pepsi max consumer for 10+ years

[robertosmmjlist]

I was diagnosed with reactive Hypoglycemia about 12 years ago and at first it was very hard to eliminate sugars especially from things that you never thought had sugar in the first place, like pasta sauce and bread. I agree you discover the natural sweetness of many fruits and honey too! I am personally super interested in this topic especially now that they are seeing some links between dementia and sugar and diabetes. Thanks for the great content! Have a positive day.

[Grimm_Butterfly]

I have lost 70lbs after prednisone was used to save my life. At the end of 2019. I weighed 220. I finally could breathe while walking again and I started watching these podcasts.

JANUARY 2023 I weighed 165.

Today I weigh 155lbs. Im going to add more exercise soon, Ive always been afraid to trigger my asthma again. My MD totally screwed me years ago and then the world got turned upside-down in 2020.

I still give in to artificial sweetener when people beg me to partake in their junk... I am going to just try to stop all together soon.

[shobisyd]

How about denser tissue? Peter noticed that the automated blood pressure cuff readings are 10-15mmHg higher on systolic (but not diastolic) in some individuals, and he can't think of a reason. One possible explanation could be that the arm musculature, connective tissues, collagen content, etc in these individuals are thicker and more tensile than average, which increases the vibrations and conductivity through the arterial walls. The cuff's sensors detect these vibrations, and convert them into electrical signals, which are then benchmarked on average bodies in the population to estimate blood pressure. For a similar phenomenon where average body compositions are not generalizable: BMI becomes less useful as an index of overweight/obesity, the more muscular you get. Now, when a person listens with a stethoscope, the slight change in sound conduction due to tissue density is not as apparent to the human ear as the cuff loosens: the heart's beats resume and the reading is inching down another 10-15mmHg before you reliably pick it up. On the other hand, listening for the sound to fade away on the diastolic end involves different acoustic and tissue dynamics. Finally, even if, in this particular context, the human ear may apparently be performing "worse" than the cuff's mechanical transducer (or vice versa: this explanation may be intuitive, but directionality is always best verified in clinical science lol, it can surprise you) it doesn't mean the automated cuff reading is reflecting the actual "ground truth, " and that individual is hypertensive. If we define a normal range on a particular body composition using human, non-invasive assessment, it may not generalize and the same health risks may not apply. So, I'd be interested to see what the correspondence is between automated cuff readings and a gold standard of invasive blood pressure monitoring, through cannulation of peripheral vs central arteries, and then the associated morbidity and mortality over time -- but of course, that public health experiment is too complicated, risky, and expensive to ever be performed and we'll have to make do with the reasonable approximations and population data we have at present.

[igobyplane]

I use a fair amount of monk fruit, although it is primarily erythritol. Seems data shows it's quite safe but always interested in seeing more info come out!

[Archheretc]

I think one thing one have to be mindful of when drinking artificial sweetener is that the change of taste can trigger increased appetite. We all have experienced the dessert stomach. The same kinda thing can happened when you drink diet soda when eating salty food or something similar, the change of taste can in a way partly reset your appetite so a person that is not mindful of their intake of food might eat more.

In a way it's kinda why the Chicken and Rice diet worked for enhanced body builders, they got so fed up by eating the same all the time, which lowered their appetite and helped them stay/get lean.

[frankiev]

Whenever my BP is taken manually, I am consistently 115/78. My resting heart rate is in the mid 50s at 40 years old. I’m a lifelong athlete and was fortunate enough to get into lifting/cardio/healthy eating in my late teens which has compounded into “starting my glider at a high altitude”….I have been told multiple times that I have pre-hypertension when using an auto cuff (145/80). I then tell the Dr to take it manually and I am always shocked at the look of disbelief when I tell them I have clients who work at places which produce medical devices and they do not trust them. Peter is brilliant and truly embodies the Hippocratic Oath. I’m sure it’s hard for him to understand the disgusting nature of a person who would manipulate the production of medical products, to falsely diagnose 30 million more people into taken one of the most profitable medications of all time….

[robbogart]

my blood pressure can litterally go from 170//90 to 120//70 from just the fear of the cuff... home or otherwise

[CannabisTechLife]

Hmm for that end bit, I would say nutrition > building muscle >cardio for losing weight. It's very hard if not impossible to do enough cardio to offset the intake of calories. However, muscles burn calories even when not actively exercising. Cardio is still important though to give your muscles oxygen to lift in the first place.