Artificial sweeteners may damage blood vessels

We know that sugar, consumed in large amounts, increases the risk of a range of health concerns. A recent study showed that artificial sweeteners may have similar consequences, but through completely different biochemical pathways.
Which is safest: sugar or artificial sweeteners?
During recent years, excessive sugar intake has been conclusively paired with
obesity, diabetes , and cardiovascular disease — all of which are now solidly tied to the overconsumption of sugar.

As sugar's sweet reputation grew steadily more sour, artificial sweeteners took the opportunity to rise to fame.
Today, tens of thousands of products include artificial sweeteners, making them one of the most used food additives in the world. With zero calories, they make diet drinks and low-calorie snacks sweet enough to be enjoyed by even the most sugar-hooked consumers.
But, as it is often said, "all that glitters is not gold." Increasingly, studies are being published that reject artificial sweeteners' whiter-than-white image. Evidence is now mounting that consuming large amounts of these chemicals could also lead to obesity and metabolic disorders.

The findings of the most recent study to fling mud at artificial sweeteners were presented at the Experimental Biology 2018 conference, held in San Diego, CA, yesterday.
The research was led by Brian Hoffmann, Ph.D., an assistant professor in the Department of Biomedical Engineering at the Marquette University and Medical College of Wisconsin in Milwaukee.
A fresh look at sweeteners
Hoffmann explains why this topic interests him, saying, "Despite the addition of these non-caloric artificial sweeteners to our everyday diets, there has still been a drastic rise in obesity and diabetes."

This study is the most in-depth exploration — to date — of the biochemical changes wrought by artificial sweeteners in the body. To achieve this level of detail, they used a technique called unbiased high-throughput metabolomics.
Metabolomics refers to the study of the products of metabolism within cells, tissues, and animals.