Sugar is famously not great for the health. See for example: Is Sugar The New Smoking? ← the answer is “no, but it’s still very bad, just not in the same league of badness as smoking”!

Of course, there are some important circumstantial things to bear in mind, such as:

From Apples to Bees, and High-Fructose Cs: Which Sugars Are Healthier, And Which Are Just The Same?

But even without sugar, simply sweetness itself can cause problems: we can build tolerance to sweetness. Many sugar substitutes are many times (in some cases, hundreds of times) sweeter than sugar. This leads to people craving increasingly sweeter foods for the same experiential sweetness level.

Because of this, the World Health Organization has released a report offering guidance regards the use of sugar-free sweeteners.

In a nutshell, the guidance is: don’t

• Here’s the report itself: Use of non-sugar sweeteners: WHO guideline
• And it was based on this huge systematic review: Health effects of the use of non-sugar sweeteners: a systematic review and meta-analysis
• Here’s the WHO’s own press release about it: WHO advises not to use non-sugar sweeteners for weight control in newly released guideline

Nevertheless, if you really want to, we previously did a rundown on:

• Sucrose (metabolic problems)
• Sucralose (genotoxic)
• Erythritol (ischemiagenic)
• Xylitol (gut disruptor)
• Acesulfame K (gut disruptor)
• Stevia (strong risk of sweetness tolerance problem)
• Glycine (beneficial in moderation, sweetness problem though)

For more details than those one-or-few-word summaries, see: What’s The Healthiest Sweetener?

We’ve also talked about: The Fascinating Truth About Aspartame, Cancer, & Neurotoxicity

…which covers how the most popular beliefs about aspartame are myths, and in large part stemming from a single viral hoax chain letter in the 90s!

But sweeteners really increase your appetite?

That’s the question that Dr. Sabina Anderson et al. put to the test all so recently, using a mixture of acesulfame K and acesulfame cyclamate (Ace-K/Cyc).

What they found, in few words:

• No, there was no increase in food intake: participants didn’t eat more after consuming artificial sweeteners compared with water, even when allowed to eat freely later.
• No, there was no meaningful effect on hunger overall: hunger, fullness, and satiety were the same between sweeteners and water across all time points during the study.
• In fact, the participants enjoyed reduced sweet cravings: the sweetened drink lowered the desire to eat something sweet, and this effect persisted even after adjusting for taste differences.

You may be thinking: what happened to that up top about tolerance spiralling and craving more and more sweet things?!

And the answer is: that’s in the big picture; this was a 265-minute study, done three times in a row. So, it’s less about what it does in the long term, and more about what it does in the moment.

Specifically,

❝Subjective appetite sensations were measured using visual analogue scales while fasting and nine times during a 250-min postprandial period. During this period, a standardized breakfast (0–10 min) was served and, 2 h later, a test drink containing either Ace-K/Cyc or water (120–130 min) was given. After 265 min, an ad libitum test meal was served.❞

Read in full: Acute and Prolonged Effects of Sweeteners and Sweetness Enhancers on Postprandial Appetite Sensations, Palatability, and Ad Libitum Energy Intake in Humans: A SWEET Sub-Study (yes, they say “and prolonged”, but when they say “prolonged”, they’re referring to t=265 min, as opposed to immediately after drinking the drink)

That does mean, of course, that while helpful to know about in the moment, the results may not be extrapolated to the long term.

It’s also worth noting that the sample size was small (n=26), so in terms of strength of evidence it’s more of an indicative “jumping-off point” for future studies, rather than anything that should necessarily shape policy (including your personal policy) in the meantime.

One other important limitation is that obviously the results are for acesulfame-K and cyclamate, which means the results cannot necessarily be assumed to apply to all artificial sweeteners.

In fact, there is some science to the opposite for at least one sweetener, sucralose:

The Sweetener That Interferes With Hunger/Satiety Signals

Of course, sucralose is not technically a non-sugar sweetener, as it is chemically a sugar. But in practical terms, sucralose is a sugar in the same way that coffee is a fruit, i.e. it’s true, but for most purposes we can disregard that information as it’s not how we usually use those words in daily parlance.

Want to learn more?

This recommendation’s tangential to our main topic today, but it’ll be relevant for a lot of people who use sweeteners as a blood sugar control tool, so:

Stop Overeating During Low Blood Sugars With Diabetes – by Ginger Vieira

Take care!

At 10almonds we are always extolling the virtues of fruits and vegetables, but how much do those benefits still exist when we’re looking at a fruit and vegetable extract supplement?

We examined one aspect of this previously, here;

Mediterranean Diet… In A Pill?

This looked at getting the anti-inflammatory benefits of the Mediterranean diet, in supplement form, by providing extracts of 16 key plant extracts—which also provides an excellent shopping list, by the way, if you just want to skip the supplements and buy those plants; if nine top scientists (anti-aging specialists, neurobiologists, pharmacologists, and at least one professor of applied statistics) came to the conclusion that to get the absolute most bang-for-buck possible, those are the plants to get the phytochemicals from, then we’re not going to ignore that!

And yes, the short answer was “it does very significantly improve anti-inflammatory markers”, by the way.

But when it comes to benefits from polyphenols, anti-inflammatory powers are very much “low-hanging fruit”, so to speak. It’s the “fork found in kitchen” level of shocking revelation. It’s what polyphenols are best at (tied with antioxidant powers, which directly mediate their anti-inflammatory powers).

So, what about something more challenging, like brain benefits?

Underrated Brain Boosters

A European research team (Dr. Begoña Cerdá et al.) looked at the effects of polyphenol-rich nutraceuticals (plant extracts) on cognitive function and neuroprotection biomarkers.

It was a randomized, crossover, double-blind, sex-stratified, placebo-controlled clinical trial that had people take the supplement or a placebo for 16 weeks, have a 4-week washout phase (to minimize leftover effects contaminating the data) and then switching groups (still blinded to the placebo control) for 16 weeks.

They tested cognitive function and neuroprotection biomarkers in various ways before and after each of the testing phases (so, four testing sessions in total per person: before and after the supplement + before and after the placebo).

The results:

❝The results suggested that participants who consumed the polyphenol-rich nutraceutical demonstrated significant improvements in cognitive performance compared to the placebo group.

The Stroop Test scores indicated enhanced attention and inhibitory control, while RIST results suggested improvements in logical reasoning and memory. The Trail Making Test also revealed increased cognitive flexibility, highlighting the supplement’s potential to boost overall mental agility.

Furthermore, the ELISA results showed a notable increase in BDNF and CREB levels among participants who took the active supplement. BDNF is a protein that is essential for neuronal growth and survival, and its levels were significantly elevated, reinforcing its role in synaptic plasticity and long-term memory formation.

Additionally, CREB, a transcription factor involved in learning processes, also showed increased levels, supporting its function in cognitive enhancement.

Importantly, the correlation between improved test scores and higher biomarker levels suggested that polyphenols may directly influence brain function rather than merely offering general health benefits.

While the study focused on healthy adults, the findings also raised questions about whether similar interventions could benefit populations at risk for cognitive decline, including older adults and individuals with neurodegenerative conditions.❞

Key to abbreviations:

• RIST = Reynolds Intellectual Screening Test
• ELISA = Enzyme-Linked ImmunoSorbent Assays
• BDNF = Brain-Derived Neurotrophic Factor
• CREB = cAMP-Response Element Binding Protein
• cAMP = Cyclic Adenosine MonoPhosphate

Source: Daily fruit and vegetable extracts may boost brain power ← we quoted a pop-sci article for the above summary, for easier readability while still having the critical conclusions in one place

For those who do want to dive into the actual data and a lot more detail about the study methodology (which is well worth reading if you have the time, as it’s very good), here is the actual study:

Impact of Polyphenol-Rich Nutraceuticals on Cognitive Function and Neuroprotective Biomarkers: A Randomized, Double-Blind, Placebo-Controlled Clinical Trial

If nothing else, be aware that the usual benchmark for statistical significance is p < 0.05, whereas the results in this study ranged from p < 0.01 to p < 0.001, in other words, ranging from 5x more significant than is required to be called “significant”, to 50x more significant than is required to be called “significant”.

In fewer words: impressively significant

In lay terms: the scientists are about as sure as scientists ever get about anything, that this supplement produces significant results

What was the supplement they tested?

Good news! It was…

1. a commercially available supplement (JuicePlus), which is convenient, because it means we (and you, dear reader) can get it if we so choose
2. not paid for by JuicePlus or anyone associated with them (indeed, the funding declaration on the study is “This research received no external funding”), so not subject to any conflict of interest that might introduce bias into the study

As for why they chose that one:

❝A unique aspect of the polyphenol-rich nutraceutical evaluated in this study lies in its composition, which integrates a blend of fruit, vegetable, and berry juice powders.

This product, Juice Plus+ Premium®, contains over 119 distinct polyphenolic compounds, including flavanols, anthocyanins, and flavones, as demonstrated in prior compositional analyses.

Compared to other polyphenol-based interventions, this nutraceutical stands out due to its comprehensive formulation, combining a wide range of bioactive compounds with complementary antioxidant and neuroprotective effects.

These characteristics ensure a more diverse interaction with neurobiological pathways, including those related to oxidative stress mitigation, synaptic plasticity, and cognitive function❞

Source: Ibid. (it’s in the introduction)

Want to try some?

We don’t sell it, but for your convenience, here’s where to get JuicePlus supplements Amazon 😎

Enjoy!