Exposed: Health influencers and registered dietitians with millions of followers lie to you on behalf of big food consortia
Did you see the hashtag #safetyofaspartame? It might have been hard to miss, since a large number of multi-million-follower health experts, aka “fitfluencers,” publicized it in the wake of the World Health Organization (WHO) warnings about the potential cancer-causing effects of aspartame. Aspartame is used in soft drinks and other cold foods.
A friend and reader sent me a link to an in-depth Washington Post report about registered dietitians who are paid by food companies to promote foods online. The September 13 in-depth dive detailed a social media hashtag, #safetyofaspartame. More than 30 health professionals with big social media followings created videos and other digital media to call warnings about aspartame or other artificial sweeteners “clickbait.” They said the warnings are “based on junk science.”
I’m not a registered dietitian, but I have a friend who is one. She doesn’t have social media influencer status or “millions of followers.” She has never encouraged the use of any artificial sweetener. Why?
Because they are horrible for you. A little Dum-Dum pop or a spoon of table sugar is better for non-diabetics than any soda or other drink loaded with aspartame or sucralose or any of the gut-wrenching sugar alcohols.
According to the Post, as part of the paid promotion, Mary Ellen Phipps, a dietitian from Houston, sipped from a glass of soda and told her millions of Instagram followers that “artificial sweeteners satisfy the taste for sweetness without affecting blood sugar or insulin levels.”
This woman who has a degree in nutrition is supposed to specialize in diabetes care. Her statements are untrue. Two of the most common artificial sweeteners absolutely affect blood sugar and insulin levels.
According to a Johns Hopkins study, both saccharin and sucralose have been found to increase blood sugar or glucose levels.
What’s more, just like regular sugar in any form, artificial sweeteners are addictive. Many studies have found that not only do artificial sweeteners…
