People avoid sugars due to the fear of weight gain and some other health related problems. They take artificial sweeteners instead of sugar. But according to the World Health Organization (WHO), artificial sweeteners may not help people to lose weight in the long-run, but they have some dangerous health effects. Artificial sweeteners may increase the risk of diabetes, heart disease and death. People consume some common artificial sweeteners or sugar substitutes such as stevia, aspartame and sucralose.
WHO conducted a systematic review of the available evidence. The summary of review indicate that the uptake of non-sugar sweeteners doesn’t provide any long-term benefit to lower the body fat in adults and children. But the long-term use of these non-sugar sweeteners may augment the risk of type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular diseases, and mortality in adults.
Dr Francesco Branca, WHO director for nutrition and food safety, also emphasized that the consumption of artificial sweeteners instead of sugar doesn’t provide benefit of weight loss in the long-term. Therefore, he recommended the uptake of food with naturally occurring sugars, like fruit, or unsweetened food and beverages. He said that artificial sweeteners are not essential dietary factors and have no nutritional value.
Source: WHO
WHO needs financial help to address health crisis
UN World Health Organization (WHO) needs $2.54 billion to address severe health crisis across its operations in the financial year of 2023. About 339 million people are in need of humanitarian assistance globally. Therefore, the UN agency’s Director-General, requested the donors to help WHO, save lives, and prevent the spread of disease.
Source: https://news.un.org/en/story/2023/01/1132717