The WHO recently released a report regarding artificial sweeteners and cancer. There is also plenty of evidence to suggest the problems with regards to the gut microbiome - whatever that means.
With the rise of ozempic, I also find it quite amusing that the companies that make the frozen fast food are now making these ready meals but with a higher level of protein, which makes me think how much protein we actually need (link this to another page - as all the new products are marketed to have a higher amount of protein - making me remember that these companies are at the end of the day are an industry and have the capitalist mindset not the health mindset). It also interests me all the claims that have been made especially by the Pederson family with regards to the autoimmune theory.
Going back to the cancer association studies, they were based on mouse models where the dose was a couple of thousands times that is consumed in humans. Again this emphasises the point the dose is the poison and that even the WHO is fallable to mistakes. I also scrutinise this as again I know after this study came out, the food and drink industry paid social media influencers to ‘debunk’ this, but again I am not sure at what extent the research was true and I can imagine people like Van Tuelleken would jump on this train. I stand with Giles Yeo that supermarket bread is not going to cause mortality and it is important to not demonise such foods since it is not possible to cook your own sourbread. I think a really important point that was recently made was that it is also important to remember that we should also celebrate that food has been made widely accessible to everyone in the population and that this has also severely reduced the issue of starvation.
The point that I currently stand with it all is that for someone who is obese/overweight and would like to lose weight, I can firmly say that the reduced risk of all cause mortality is going to be greater if an individual switches full sugar soda with the diet/coke zero version. One forgets that obesity is also known to severely increase the chances of cancer. Not only this, but the cardiovascular benefit would be immense. However, I do worry about the studies that show that the body still craves the sugar after the activation of the receptors in the mouth, in the sense that sugary foods usually spikes the release of dopamine.
With the point on the gut microbiome, like where I stand with emulsifiers, the studies do show changes in the gut microbiome, but it seems to be a catchphrase these days as opposed to ground truth studies.