Artificial sweeteners increase risk of diabetes and cardiovascular diseases, WHO warns

The World Health Organization (WHO) warned that the continued and long-term use of artificial sweeteners could lead to a heart attack, stroke and chronic diseases.WHO issued a new guideline on the use of artificial sweeteners, pointing out that artificial sweeteners do not help with long-term weight loss or reduce the risk of noncommunicable diseases.WHO affirmed that a systematic review suggests that use of non-sugar sweeteners does not show any long-term benefit in reducing body fat in adults or children. Long-term use of sugar substitutes, the review shows, could cause "undesirable effects" such as an increase the risk of type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular diseases, and mortality in adults."Replacing free sugars with NSS does not help with weight control in the long term. People need to consider other ways to reduce free sugars intake, such as consuming food with naturally occurring sugars, like fruit, or unsweetened food and beverages," WHO Director for Nutrition and Food Safety Francesco Branca said."NSS are not essential dietary factors and have no nutritional value. People should reduce the sweetness of the diet altogether, starting early in life, to improve their health," she added.Non-sugar sweeteners are widely used as an alternative to sugar in pre-packaged foods and beverages and added to food and beverages directly by the consumer.