Team:UCSC/Expert

Diabetes Consultant

   Now that we had explored many of the outlining questions, we wanted to focus on one of the most important, and at times most controversial, aspects of zero-calorie sweeteners. Given that these sweeteners can reduce sugar consumption, and often produce no glycemic response, their potential as a tool to help diabetics has quickly become the center of public discussion. Diabetes has become the 7th leading cause of death within the United States, and U.S. rates of diabetes have been skyrocketing. Over 29.1 million Americans now suffer from diabetes, and both individuals and families alike are desperately looking for ways to turn the tides of this battle. Given the importance of this topic, we knew we had to look further into what role zero-calorie sweeteners could play.

   In order to gain a comprehensive view on the topic, we contacted David Mendosa, freelance medical writer, advocate, and consultant. Bringing both sides of the argument to the table, David has been writing educational pieces about Diabetes since 1995 on his website, Mendosa.com, where he continues to write to this day. The key foci of our interview was to understand the fundamental science of diabetes, how sugar consumption in the American diet may be playing a role in the increasing rates of diabetes, and how, if at all, zero-calorie sweeteners could help.

   The interview, while at a lengthy 32 minutes, is both informative and rewarding. David illustrates just how steeped in controversy each aspect of these questions can be, and his views reflected an interesting mix between both scientific and public opinion. He begins by explaining diabetes, both type one and type two, as well as potential factors causing the rapid increase in recent years. David also stated that he would recommend zero-calorie sweeteners to those struggling with weight loss and specifically diabetes, but also introduced another interesting controversy which we had yet to come across. Claims amongst the public that had begun to surface stated that zero-calorie sweeteners may pose an even greater risk to diabetics by harming the microbes in our gut microbiome. This piqued the interest of the entire team, as the gut microbiome has quickly risen to the spotlight in recent years as a highly important contributor to a vast range of health concerns. Upon looking into these claims further, the team was relieved to discover that current research did not support these views. Additionally, these fears once again are displaced mostly onto Artificial Sweeteners, leaving Erythritol and other alternative sweeteners unscathed.