KEIKO Beauty column by Keiko Iwanaga, a beautician with over 40 years of experience. Collaboration with Dr.Oike opens a new frontier of beauty.

1-42. “Artificial Sweeteners”

Perhaps it’s the impact of the coronavirus, but there seems to be an increase in health awareness in our society.

One of the most important aspects of health consciousness is a healthy immune system.

And what is needed to maintain the immune system is a healthy intestinal environment.

In a previous column, I introduced diet and other tips for maintaining a healthy intestine, but this time I’d like to talk about sugar.

As you may know, excessive consumption of sugar (especially white sugar) is very hard on the intestines and blood.

But even more importantly, what you should definitely avoid are “artificial sweeteners” such as fructose glucose, aspartame, and acesulfame k.

They are commonly used in all kinds of processed foods and calorie-free, sugar-free soft drinks.

Be aware that even natural food stores have products with fructose dextrose on their shelves.

So, I will tell you what happens when artificial sweeteners enter your body from the book, “The Power of Your intestine Will Change You”.

** The term “fructose” here refers to an artificial sweetener, not a fruit sugar. **

‘Fructose is a huge burden on the liver. The liver is forced to use so much energy to convert fructose into other molecules that it runs the risk of having no energy left to use for other functions.

The loss of this energy produces uric acid, which leads to high blood pressure, gout, and kidney stones. In addition, a diet high in fructose leads to obesity and metabolic disease because fructose does not produce insulin or leptin, the two main hormones that manage metabolism.

The human body cannot digest artificial sweeteners. This is the reason why artificial sweeteners have no calories. But still, the artificial sweeteners have to pass through the digestive system.

The intestinal bacteria of people who are always taking artificial sweeteners are noticeably different from those of people who don’t take them.

We also found an interrelationship between people who use artificial sweeteners and those who are overweight and have high fasting blood sugar levels. High fasting blood glucose levels have many negative effects on health.

They followed more than 60 million women since 1993 and found that the incidence of diabetes was more than twice as high in women who consumed artificially sweetened beverages than in those who consumed sugar-sweetened beverages.

According to a study in a journal, “The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition” published in 2013, high amounts of fructose allow bacteria to leave intestines and enter the bloodstream, damaging the liver.

“It appears that for some reason due to high fructose levels, intestines are no longer protected, and as a result, 30% more bacteria are leaking out of intestines.”

The study is based on animal studies (monkeys) to draw conclusions, but we can believe the same thing could happen in the human gut.’ (“The Power of Your intestine Will Change You”)

Artificial sweeteners damage the liver, increase the incidence of diabetes, and cause bacteria to leak out of intestines…’

In addition, artificial sweeteners can also cause memory loss.

When purchasing products, we want to check the ingredients on the back of the product.

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The ratio of zero-calorie beverage intake to waist gain

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