Can you train yourself to like sweeteners?

[arnoldtrubshaw]

Hello. Long time member, first time poster. I've been Type 2 diabetic since 2013 but I've never been able to get on with sweeteners, of any kind.

Whether artificial sweeteners like Aspartame, or natural ones like Stevia. If I drink any drink that has an artificial sweetener in it, I get a nasty aftertaste and then I need to have a drink of something else to take the taste away. So I was wondering, can you retrain your tastebuds to like the taste - or at least, not object to it.

Mostly I either drink fizzy water, still water, or - on special occasions or if my blood glucose is low - fizzy drinks that have sugar in.

As a Type 2 diabetic, the sugar tax ought to have solved problems for me by removing tempting sugary drinks from the shops - and in a way it has... but for me it's just more or less ruined nearly every fizzy drink that was on the market apart from Coca-Cola. Even Pepsi has sweetener in it now. And there aren't many alternatives out there. There are a few (Cawston Vale rhubarb or elderflower is good) that have no sweetener and a smaller amount of sugar in them (around 4.5g per 100ml) than Sprite or 7Up or San Pellegrino or that sort of thing used to have before the sugar tax, but they're not widely available from your average corner shop or petrol station, and moreover they're expensive.

If I could bring myself to like Diet Coke, or Coke Zero, or the many fruit-flavoured drinks that are now low in sugar because they contain artificial sweetener instead, life would be a lot simpler. So can you do it?

I did look online, but a google search mainly turned up lots of articles or forum posts from elsewhere saying it's not a good idea to consume artificial sweeteners and can you wean yourself off them.

I'm not after people's views on whether sweeteners are good or bad, artificial or not - what I would love to hear is if anyone's managed to train themselves to like sweeteners who didn't like them originally.

 

[s'nic]

I never liked the taste of sweeteners, so I preferred to stop taking sugar. As more and more commercial drinks had added sweeteners in them I just stopped buying them.
As regards health, that's for each person to decide based on their own research.

 

[Burylancs]

I never liked the taste of sweeteners, so I preferred to stop taking sugar. As more and more commercial drinks had added sweeteners in them I just stopped buying them.
As regards health, that's for each person to decide based on their own research.

Sweeteners have a long history with diabetics. Two points used to be discussed. First there are only small amounts of the actual chemical in a sweetener and a large amount of filler which is usually carb. Secondly sweeteners give most people the runs. That's one of the reasons they weren't traditionally advised. Fortunately Boots and Thorntons have stopped their 'diabetic chocolate' ranges.

 

[arnoldtrubshaw]

Sweeteners have a long history with diabetics. Two points used to be discussed. First there are only small amounts of the actual chemical in a sweetener and a large amount of filler which is usually carb. Secondly fillers give most people the runs. That's one of the reasons they weren't traditionally advised. Fortunately Boots and Thorntons have stopped their 'diabetic chocolate' ranges.

Ironically, in light of what you say there, the only sweetener that I don't seem to mind taste-wise is Sorbitol - which I believe definitely has consquences in that sort of area, if consumed in anything but small quantities.

 

[Sarahp]

I was warned off sweeteners by a dietitian years ago and they do in fact just make me crave sweet foods and leave a nasty taste like you have experienced . I now make my own soft drinks combination made up or juice with a soda stream machine, I don’t buy their fancy syrups, just carbonate the water and mix with a small amount of natural juice.

 

[Vonny]

For me, yes, I got used to Sweetex quite quickly. I used to hate the taste of sweeteners, but having got used to them, sugar is too sweet!

 

[Chester5]

I find the same after taste with aspartame, I have found many sugar free soft drinks continue Sucralose and I have not noticed any of the after taste with this.
Many of Aldi Lidl and sainsbury's own band seem to use this.
I actually started drinking many of these long before being diagnosed just because I liked the taste.

 

[everydayupsanddowns]

Sweeteners have a long history with diabetics. Two points used to be discussed. First there are only small amounts of the actual chemical in a sweetener and a large amount of filler which is usually carb. Secondly sweeteners give most people the runs. That's one of the reasons they weren't traditionally advised. Fortunately Boots and Thorntons have stopped their 'diabetic chocolate' ranges.

That’s the polyols / sugar alcohols isn’t it?

Aspartame, Sucralose and the like don’t have any carbs in them, because the carb value of the drinks that contain them is as near to nothing as makes no odds.

I think the degree to which you get an aftertaste with sweeteners is probably a bit like those people who have the genetic sensitivity to broccoli or sprouts that gives them a very bitter taste, or the coriander gene that makes it taste of soap?

I agree with how the sugar tax backfired though. The only carbonated drink you don’t need a bucket-ful of to treat a hypo now is Coke original. They didn’t even have the decency to leave us one original formula Lucozade. Bah!

It was easy enough for me to learn to like coffee and tea without sugar when I was diagnosed @arnoldtrubshaw - I can’t bear the taste of it with sugar in now!

 

[Leadinglights]

That’s the polyols / sugar alcohols isn’t it?

Aspartame, Sucralose and the like don’t have any carbs in them, because the carb value of the drinks that contain them is as near to nothing as makes no odds.

I think the degree to which you get an aftertaste with sweeteners is probably a bit like those people who have the genetic sensitivity to broccoli or sprouts that gives them a very bitter taste, or the coriander gene that makes it taste of soap?

I agree with how the sugar tax backfired though. The only carbonated drink you don’t need a bucket-ful of to treat a hypo now is Coke original. They didn’t even have the decency to leave us one original formula Lucozade. Bah!

It was easy enough for me to learn to like coffee and tea without sugar when I was diagnosed @arnoldtrubshaw - I can’t bear the taste of it with sugar in now!

I went to a lecture once where they were saying that sensitivity to the taste of various sweeteners is genetic and some people just can't taste them and some can. The lecturer gave a variety of sweeteners to a number of subjects and it was surprising that some could taste some but not others.
So apart from the ethics of artificial sweeteners people need to find one that suits them if they want to have them and use the right one for the purpose.

 

[Cheyne]

Hi,
Aspartame is the bases of most artificial sweetners, where as stevia is natural. Yes you can train the taste buds, after all most of us have been conditioned from birth to crave sugar and salt. It is not a natural craving. I thought I was smart and changed from full on coke to zero coke, more fool me. Aspartame effects kidneys and the chemical colouring slowly attacks the bones. It is recomended that only one medium glass per day for those of you with fully functioning kidneys. I stick with filtered water and stevia drops for taste and it does leave an after taste for me. With CKD and T2 I don't touch anything man made or adulterated off the shelves, prefering fresh or home grown and made foods.
Cheers