As seen on June 12th, 2013 on:
written by The Nutrition Twins,
If you’re like many weight loss hopefuls, you probably try to cut calories wherever you can. This often means opting for reduced-calorie yogurt, salad dressing, frozen treats, cereals, and other packaged foods that are made with artificial sweeteners.
But how much artificial sweetener is too much? The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has established what is known as an ADI, or Acceptable Daily Intake, which indicates the amount of a food additive that can be ingested daily over a lifetime without incurring a health risk. The ADI value of a substance is 100 times less than the smallest amount that may cause a health concern.
The chart below illustrates the ADI for artificial sweeteners. According to the FDA, a 150-pound person could safely drink up to six cans of sucralose-containing diet soda per day. However, this chart by no means justifies consuming this much soda or artificial sweetener in a single day. Instead, you should use it as a reference to help you to understand when your artificial sugar intake may become a problem.
| Sweetener | ADI (Accepted Daily Intake) | Product Equivalent based on a 150lb consumer |
| Stevia | TBD | TBD |
| Sucralose | 5 mg/kg body weight | 6 cans of diet soda |
| Aspartame | 50 mg/kg body weight | 18-29 cans of diet soda |
| Acesulfame K | 15 mg/kg body weight | 30-32 cans of diet soda |
| Saccharine | 5 mg/kg body weight | 9-12 sweetening packet |
We all should consume fewer sweeteners, both artificial and natural. To avoid artificial sweeteners, read ingredient labels carefully. Artificial sweeteners can be listed under several names.
Aspartame may go by the names Equal, Nutrasweet, Spoonful, Canderel, Benevia, AminoSweet, as well as others. Foods advertised as diet, low sugar, light, sugar free, low carbohydrate, or low calorie, typically contain aspartame.
Sucralose goes by the brand name Splenda.
Stevia is also listed as Paraguayan Sweet Herb, Sweetleaf, Azucaca, and Honey Leaf.
Acesulfame K may be called Acesulfame potassium, Ace K, Sunett, and Sweet One.
Saccharine is better known as Sweet’N Low.
TELL US: Do you use artificial sweeteners? Which ones?
For more nutrition guidance and a ‘get healthy’ plan, please check out the “The Nutrition Twins Veggie Cure“
Published on Fitbie on June 12, 2013