The Science of Sweetness

[@mikki3208]

Hank, learning from you makes me happy.

[@VeganSemihCyprus33]

Now I wonder how many chemists have died from licking their fingers..

[@mehmetbahaozen8445]

scientist 1 :Hmm tastes good i guess i found something scientist 2: hmm he made it i need to do Thé same * died by acid :D

[@bayflingers9277]

I hear the inventor of hydrofluoric acid used to taste his discoveries. Lol

[@nicaustin3911]

Key words: Used to.

[@15BubblesOrigami]

I remember one story that made it into the Darwin Awards where one scientist liked dipping his chewing gum in citric acid whenever the gum starting losing flavor. One day, he had an open container of cyanide salts on his desk instead...

[@lilygriffin5170]

Ikr. 😂

[@AStrangeTree]

If someone is wondering... just because sucralose has chlorine does not mean it is toxic. Chlorine by itself it toxic, and also apart of SODIUM CHLORIDE, or table salt. So you already ingest it a lot in your everyday proceedings.

[@rlguerrero2263]

I´m not chemophobic. Actually, I try to fight chemophobia. But, let´s say, I´m not that happy when I knew about chlorine on sucralose. The point is not the element by itself, but the remembrance of chlorinated pesticides. But anyway, if after passing all tests and regulations it was approved, let´s presume it´s safe.

[@Olhar.Internacional]

4:03 can't believe SciShow misused an apostrophe !!

[@mickeymoose636]

+NNJ Studios Yes, it is incorrect. They should have used "its" because "it's" is a contraction for "it is", so the possessive form has no apostrophe.

[@Benkaization]

+Nicholas Audinet i once argued the same point with a teacher in my elementary school for like twenty minutes.

[@mortophobegaming6454]

+NNJ Studios people don't notice the difference between *its* and *it's* ( I didn't untill reading this comment) and since language isn't law, but a naturally evolving element of humanity, soon it will both be correct. its allways refers to a property of something (like in this case) and it's is a subtraction of it has (i.e. "*it's* (it has)been a good day for science" or "look at the furr of my cat, "its" hair (the hair of it) is stripey so it must be a female") (ps did need to say naturally or natural? idk & idc really)

[@travisbrewer5391]

They’re expertise is in science, not grammar.

[@micahphilson]

Still one of my absolute all time favorite informative videos ever, the others (in no particular order) are another scishow about the most dangerous chemicals and a Vsauce about De Ja Vu.

[@RMoribayashi]

You forgot sodium cyclamate. It may still be banned in the US, but it's sold in other countries under names like Sucaryl (or Sugar Twin in Canada), often in a mix of 10 parts cyclamate to 1 part saccrine.

[@FenrirAldebrand]

You missed out on Xylitol. A natural sweetener like stevia, that I can't tell the difference from sugar like other sweeteners. And it actually helps rebuild teeth - stopping cavities.

[@AaronKlapheck]

Too bad this artificial sugar kills dogs and bids like flies with a fly swatter. Also a natural laxative, fun at both ends. :-)

[@nickPOPmusic]

PaganArwen actually, Xylitol simply neutralizes some of the acidity caused by bacteria breaking down sugars. Don't let that stop you from buying xylitol gum as a preventative measure against cavities though, because it can be very effective for maintaining healthy enamel.

[@danceandrevolution]

Thank-you so much for this!!!! As an ND, I talk about this with my patients all the time. It's so awesome to now have a video I can share with them. You're awesome!

[@micahphilson]

I love this video, it's still one of my all-time favorite educational/informative videos on the internet! This and the episode on the 5 most dangerous chemicals I just love to watch on occasion! Speaking of which, looking in the comments, I said almost the same thing 1 and 2 years ago. Am I accidentally making a tradition of viewing these two videos and commenting my love for them once a year?

[@XzoahX]

If your in a hurry: 4:10 Sucrose (sugar) 1x sweet as sugar 4:25 Stevia (the plant) 300x sweet as sugar 5:02 Saccharin (artificial) 200x sweet as sugar 6:06 Aspartame (artificial) 200x sweet as sugar 6:41 Sucralose (Sugar and Chlorine) 600x sweet as sugar

[@TitaniumDragon]

Saccharin doesn't cause cancer. It certainly does cause bladder cancer in rats, but this is one of those cases where a poor animal model was chosen. The reason for this, as it turns out, is that rats have different environments in their bladders than humans do. As a result of different proteins and pH they produce things in conjunction with saccharin which cause damage to the lining of their bladder; repeated damage to your bladder (or anything else) will raise cancer risk due to more cell division and other factors. As it turns out, this does not happen in humans, so saccharin is, as far as we can tell, harmless. This is hardly the only chemical compound where some animal models are poor choices; humans eat all sorts of things which cause toxic effects in critters.

[@ConstantChaos1]

Just saying it wastn the first artificial sweetener, that would be sugar of lead

[@zoestertoester]

yeah and in that study they gave the rats 10% of their body weight in saccharine !

[@micahphilson]

No way is this video almost 10 years old! I remember it being released! Once again, I make my majestic biennial migration to this and the video on the 5 most dangerous chemicals ever created, as well as the Vsauce video on Deja Vu! Absolute classics, some of my all-time favorites on KZbin!

[@crowbeatsme]

*watches video, pouring coke zero that rarely drinks.* *sips it* "although, some artificial sweeteners are tested that it gives cancer to lab rats" *stays silent for a while - regretting* "Moderation is the key." Okay.

[@PetitGlace]

I LOVE SCI SHOW EPISODES ABOUT FOOD!!! Nerdy food facts and science make my day!!!!! Thank you so much!!!

[@agentwashingtub9167]

So next time I'm in chemistry I should lick my fingers?

[@xavierpapesh]

Yes?

[@agentwashingtub9167]

Ortun Ok. Tastiness, here I come!

[@xboxboy93941]

+AgentWashingtub Unless it's Barium Chloride. That stuff is the furthest thing from tasty (if you're a PTC taster like me that is).

[@shobharoy2033]

I once licked my finger, hours after working with picric acid in the chemistry lab. I still remember the unbearably bitter taste

[@anselxiong4921]

lick lick lick

[@MAGonzzManifesto]

I think this might be my favorite SciShow episode yet! SO INFORMATIVE! Thanks Hank.

[@zs9970]

He brought up the fact that cats can't taste sweet, yet not that they CAN taste ATP. I feel like that information would have been beneficial to the video.

[@KnittyBird]

Well, thanks for reminding me that TaB exists. Now I'll be craving it all week. I sort of wished he'd gone into the fact that they cut the sweeteners with other things more. No matter how I explain it, my mother still believes that a packet of saccharin is 300x sweeter than a packet of sugar.

[@agustin4741]

The picture of stevia isn't yerba mate? Mierda que se parece a la que uso yo, aguante la taragüi sin palo vieja, no me importa nada

[@lncerante]

Viendo imágenes de "dried stevia leaves" no se parecen en nada a la imagen, así que sí jajaj, buscaron "paraguay dried leaves" XD

[@micahphilson]

This is one of my favorite episodes. so much to learn from it that affects you like 30 times a day.

[@UnlimitedLives1960]

For all we know rich red meat may taste 'sweet' to a carnivores brain. In any case they probably have a good sensation for their prize foods.

[@CheezyCEAnimation]

This is very true, also I cannot believe the age of this comment.

[@ZTP92]

Brilliant, I loved it, I discovered a ton of things I didn't know and more importantly you got me thinking twice about my daily choices. Oh well, you often do. Great great channel really, keep it up man.

[@superiordefenderxii7072]

I just use honey as a sweetener. Good with tea and coffee.

[@cmpuke1014]

make sure it’s raw

[@kimboyle9082]

I think it would be good for you to do a show about Diabetes, Type I and II and how the body processes sugars, carbs, and proteins. I work for an endocrinologist and there are several misconceptions about diabetes. I love your videos and think a show on diabetes would be a great reference for my patients.

[@jerobarraco]

tested and approved by the fda hahahahahaha tasted

[@agentwashingtub9167]

Jerónimo Barraco Mármol What.

[@jerobarraco]

Nothing important. Just a stupid word play.

[@blckberrystone]

Very interesting topic.Thanks to SciShow for being awesome!

[@NikhilSharma-hk5ju]

Whole world is a wanker factory ?

[@ravenlowes1830]

Lol

[@daniellbondad6670]

Bumbags.Bums.Bums mean butt in American English.But it is better than the F word used for 'Bum'bags.

[@NoBody-zb3so]

WONKA Factory like Willy Wonka .

[@suracs]

In terms of meat and meat products? Varies with the person, location, expenditure ect. But roughly; a serve of lean red meat 2-3 times a week, a serve of lean poultry/seafood 3-4 times a week, 2-3 serves of dairy products (milk, cheese, yogurt) a day. Eggs can also be used to replace some of your intake of protein sourced directly from animals.

[@ViraIshnia]

Well, glad I can't stand artificial sweeteners. Now I'm kinda curious though, what in hell is brown sugar?

[@hiddeblokzijl9050]

ViraIshnia Seriously, why don't you Google? en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brown_sugar

[@brandonboogers]

It's sugar mixed with molasses

[@apenasmeucanal5984]

+Anal “Negro” Avacado esse nome tio (aquela carinha)

[@cmpuke1014]

poop of pinguins. they filter and centrifuge it which gives us brown sugar

[@RobGreenLDN]

Brilliant, especially the summary about moderation which seems to be the simplest of approaches that most ignore.

[@Papaconstantopoulos]

Pretty thorough breakdown there Hank, thanks, informative as always

[@deedechi3551]

One of my favourite series! Thank you, so informative.

[@ucantkeepup583]

Great vid, really enjoyed that one. Thx SciShow!

[@BloodnutXcom]

It's sucrose just like regular white sugar. the difference is that white sugar is completely refined while brown isn't which makes it more "natural". it's like whole grain in breads is a less refined grain than usual (which make white flour). Hope this helped.

[@LadyFirelyght]

Many kinds of brown sugar are refined sugar that then have molasses added to it. This helps homogenize the end product.

[@louisaschneider5922]

aspartame turns into formaldehyde when it's at a temperature of 30 degrees celsuis or higher. For those of you who don't know, our body temperature is around 37 degrees celsius and formaldehyde is often used to preserve dead bodies.

[@trochewolniej]

The sweeteners not only trick your brain but also activate the sweet-taste receptors in the gut. So when they may not be metabolized, they can (through receptors, G-proteins and other molecules) interact with enterocytes provoking them to crazy-level expression of glucose transporters. So in the end you absorb even more (around 100-1000x) sugar then eating only sucrose. Source:"Sweet taste receptors in rat small intestine stimulate glucose absorption through apical GLUT2".

[@Sarawkweird]

I'm​ interested in understanding why many people believe there is a link between aspartame and MS. I read something about aspartame increasing free radicals & oxidation...

[@TQmatt]

Another great episode. Thanks, sci-show.

[@FlekyJeky]

Brown sugar is what you get when sucrose (plain old sugar) has molasses mixed in with it. Molasses is a bi-product of getting sugar out of ... whatever you're getting sugar out of. I think generally speaking, "sugar in the raw" or natural cane sugar, the large brownish crystals? That's sugar that still has some molasses on it. But brown sugar as in the clumpy, almost "sand-castle" texture sugar, that tends to be sugar that's had molasses intentionally added TO it after it's been refined.

[@ShapeDoppelganger]

About the last warning on the video about the calorie count on the sweet foods, the interesting thing is that in this year it has been found that we have another kind of taste receptor for carb, and with that, we can't trick our brains into swallowing low calories food, as it knows we are not getting enough energy, and when we eat proper food, it also knows.

[@KemaTheAtheist]

Lactic acid build up is the "burn" while working out. The prolonged soreness afterwards is microtrauma damage to the muscle.

[@thes0mething]

I just stopped eating any type of sugar in snacks such as ice cream, sweets, juices, sodas, energy bars, pancakes etc. I don't really care if there is sugar in my food though like it tend to be in a lot of asian foods. It was just supposed to be a test for 2 weeks but I gotta say, now after 2 months that it really makes you feel great. It removes this constant energy high to energy low feeling and you are always feeling well, clear and awake.

[@KemaTheAtheist]

Right. Lasting soreness is a good sign you worked out enough that your body will be triggered to repair and generate new muscle. The "burn" is only a good sign you're working hard though, not muscle build up. It's merely that your muscle was worked enough that all oxygen was used for aerobic energy production and, to keep moving, the cells switched to anaerobic energy production which doesn't use oxygen, but ends in by products that need to be dealt with afterwards, including lactic acid.

[@TheWoodsOfWonderland]

Note: Most of these 0calorie sugar subsitutes in their cut form are -low- calorie because of the products used to bulk them up

[@redsunpro]

This is one of if not the best episode yet.

[@MoreEvilThenMe]

All the things you mentioned are protein and lipid composed foods, biologically carbs are used before either of those two chemical groups. Vegetarian and Vegan diets are generally higher in carbs, adequate in protein and low in lipids. Any carbs from any diet not burnt off by day to day activities is converted to fat and this leads to obesity. Plant not meat based products are what cause obesity. Sugar, Wheat, Fruits. That's the point he was making.

[@declanpm8578]

I have learned more from this show in the past week than I have in the many years of attending school.

[@ShaneParkClover]

I hope you don't mind me answering this, but it's a life saving mechanism. Muscles take a lot of calories to maintain (you know with moving and stuff), fat however does not. So in the long term of your body thinking "which of the two should I use keep myself going?" the muscles are the first to go first.

[@truefregn]

Brown sugar was previously unrefined sugar, or just partially refined. Today it's completely refined sugar where they ad back the stuff lost in the refining process...

[@getahanddown]

They can control moisture levels and crystal size to make most sugars, the others are ground to size. The colour is dirt. Shocking trip to the refinery at age 6, white only for me ever since!

[@cambaopa]

Sweet topic. It was reviewed in the last NatGeo Mag. Among other things, it discussed how sugar came into our society historically, and evolutionary speaking. Keep researching, this is a long story and a very important one...

[@martinakirke8583]

at the BBC series Food Hospital they say that also when you eat something with a sweetener, your brain might expect the calories and if it doesnt get it, it makes you long for calorific food more

[@HlenaH]

Inulin is not mentioned but its like Stevia. There is not yet a product available but it is used in a lot of diet products in the EU.

[@girlwhoneededayoutubehandle]

I feel like this is a difficult thing to study though since people who are able also like eat/over eat when they feel sad/lonely, on holidays, and for other reasons. We (humans) don't just/always eat based on our natural instincts. There are plenty of sociological influences.

[@armphonse]

I don't know why but the way he talks is so engaging!

[@sjoerdwennekes]

Great video Hank! Could you also make one about the laboratory burger? How is it made, could we also do it with chicken or even dinosaur? Those kinds of questions. Cheers!

[@getahanddown]

Should have emphasised the "same time" part of your quote. They were separate explanations of two concepts both relating to the big picture topic of the clip. To answer your question why he said contradictory things in the clip, it was to illustrate both those separate points. The taste / calorie relation of the tongue and the taste / calorie calculation of the brain.

[@jenphanny3593]

This video in incredibly informative. It makes me wonder about the foods I eat. Amazing video!

[@ManSeaweed]

"will the diet cola give you the cancer; scishow got the answer", hank just make an entire episode of sweet rhymes like that with that funky way

[@valhar2000]

I have migraines too, but aspartame does not affect it at all. Triggers for migraines vary considerably from person to person.

[@goinupthegranby]

Great video Hank, thank you. Only thing I want to say it that I would have liked if you suggested looking at what other regulatory bodies have to say about artificial sweeteners, as not everyone lives in the US or feels confident about the FDA maintaining a independent science based position.

[@organicallydanica]

In Australia, you get white sugar, and/or raw sugar, and A (singular) brand of sweetener. Doesn't matter which one, that's the cafe's choice. If you choose to live such a half-life as to cut out sugar then you get what you're given and you'd better not complain.

[@smeebs]

What happens if you complain? o_O

[@stevenbudaya2140]

Señor Zoidberg inland Taipan poison in your soup? xD

[@InklingThe]

My policy is that I consume diet over anything with HFCS (frankly I just prefer the taste), and real sugar over artificial, and everything in moderation anyhow. Artificial sweeteners are a great tool for those with diabetes to live a normal life, my cousin has type 1 and we MUST use it in a lot of our cooking. But it's not an excuse to double fist a 2L.

[@ticklewit]

Concentrated sugars that we eat in so much abundance is also a much more recent event in our evolutionary history. There are some studies which suggest that spike in blood sugar leads to a lot of inflamation of blood vessels. And inflamation seems to be the leading cause of cardiac ailments. So forget artificial sugars (I really do not want to put chlorine in my body ... yuck) even sucrose shd be avoided as far as possible. Stick to whole grains must milk fish and fresh vegetables

[@Zorbelth]

It's basically the salt NH4Cl. In some countries they consider it to be poison, but Finnish people have been eating it forever and none has ever died from it. (Usually people who have never eaten it before dislike its strong taste and it can create a burny sensation in your mouth.)

[@KemaTheAtheist]

That's what causes them to "burn" while working out. The soreness afterwards is because of build up of end products, such as H+, in the muscle and microtrauma damage that has to be repaired.

[@joshuasmith7859]

"So you've got your tongue, or at least I hope you do" I almost spit out my drink 😂

[@ToombaHeart]

I have two questions. Feel free to chime in if you know! First, Hank kept giving examples of how much sweeter some artificial sweeteners are to sugar, "sucralose is 600 times sweeter." What is the science of measuring sweetness? How would one even get the number 600? Second, what does the manufacturer cut stevia with to lessen the sweetness? I hope I explained my questions well enough to be answered. Thanks to anyone that can help!

[@stevenbudaya2140]

Just a blind guess here, but maybe it's similar to how we measure how spicy a chilli pepper is? a ghost pepper is more than a hundred times(if i remember correctly) more spicy than Jalapenos, and we don't burn alive eating a ghost pepper so maybe 600 times higher in a scale of some sort? kinda like Scoville scale for spicy level.

[@RMoribayashi]

Stevia extract (when not used as a liquid) is cut with dextrose and/or maltodextrin. Coca-Cola's "Truvia" is different. Since they could not patent the stevia plant itself they created a patentable process to isolate one of its components. This is then cut with erythritol, a sugar alcohol derived from corn. Unfortunately the part of the stevia plant they isolated has a bitter aftertaste, so vanllin is added to mask it. Fine for cola but it leaves a noticeable artificial vanilla flavor in other foods.

[@mcjunieb]

I'm just guessing here but I think it has something to do with bliss point and the average quantity it takes for the population to get there. Honestly- I'm just talking out my ads. Does anyone have an actual answer?

[@XfishX]

There's a device called a refractometer that determines the sugar content of liquids. www.homebrewstuff.com/refractometer-how-to en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brix It's a good idea to know how much sweeter an additive is than sucrose (which is the standard/control the other sweeteners are compared to). Knowing that sucralose is 600x sweeter will make you, or at least should make you, use less because it takes a smaller amount of sucralose to equal the same sweetness as sucrose.

[@RMoribayashi]

The only way to compare them is mass human testing. Researchers increase the concentration of a sweetener until *any* change in taste is detectable by subjects. That is called the "threshold value" and is what they use to compare sweetness.

[@patriciarussell8450]

Keep the good info coming, thank Hank you are super!☺

[@suracs]

Nice critique, Hank. Very objective and rational.

[@juliecut]

Thanks Hank! I tried to explain this to a friend of mine, with no success. This was very succinct!

[@lukestevens6024]

Never really knew about the ties with Saccharin and Cancer. Great video, once again!

[@scott98390]

This might sound weird, but I gotta tell ya: Hank, I l-o-v-e LOVE the way you talk. Any pointers for presenting?

[@dafl00]

Very informational. Thank you for making me a little smarter this morning!

[@that_jason_black]

6:15 Best sentence I've heard in awhile.

[@gmejiaretana8510]

Excellent video! only one comment: Sucrose is Glucose-Fructose while Sucralose (Splenda) is Galactose-Fructose. It's a different disaccharide and it can only be made artificially - it doesn't exist in nature as you assertively mention none compound in nature is chlorinated. If possible a correction should be made.

[@HungerGamesFan00]

Ask ALL the questions (to science)!

[@sanso1]

Finally someone is picking up this topic and shows it to a wide audience... people should check what they eat more often. Sucralose is _the worst_ and Stevia has been held back way to long. It got the permission to be sold as food in the EU just recently (Dec. 2012!)

[@carlsagansrevenge3561]

i love u hank green. how many lives will live longer just over this one video.

[@DramaLlamaHorse]

I love that the videos are getting longer.

[@kshri101]

@7:08 "... then as legend has the student was asked to "test" the product but misheard, tasted it instead!" imagines the scenario - bursts out laughing!!! XD

[@PeppyTheCrawdad]

Excellent episode. I applaud thee.

[@Re_Kitty]

I think its that we enjoy a contrast in temperatures. When we are in the cold, we like hot drinks. When we are in the hot weather, we like cold drinks. The same as how when you are inside and too cold, you walk outside and you feel fine a bit. Then after a while you get too hot outside and going inside is nice, although the inside is too cold. Question still is, why do we like temperature differences?

[@diceman199]

Cold drink would be more refreshing than a hot one. I think it's simply a personal preference & partially dependent on the weather. I know somebody who drinks very little other than hot drinks and I drink almost always cold drinks (excluding my morning cup of coffee).

[@harikakrishna007]

hey , ur team work is excellent, & the information u r giving is v.nic :) really good job.

[@liamhughes3177]

that was from memory. you can get complete proteins from plants as long as you eat a variety of them.

[@NeoFighterX]

Eating or drinking anything with sweeteners especially aspartame gives me a crazy headache so I'm glad I stay away from the bs anyway

[@thena_jdm]

I was eating a butter scotch at the same time as watching this video...lol

[@PubbaK]

Question: What about artificial sweeteners and their less cancer-y effects? For example, headaches/migraines? To relate to my migraines, I have found I only have one trigger food, and it's aspartame. I'm not sure if it counts for all artificial sweeteners, but I don't want to experiment again to find out. It does take a bit - having a sip of diet pop (tastes disgusting I don't know why anyone would ever do that to themselves) is not enough, it takes the whole can.

[@MuhammadAhmad-el1ny]

wow, can not believe what I just listened it still it is so informative!!

[@jenisedai]

Molasses isn't added to make brown sugar, brown sugar is closer to raw sugar. White sugar (also called refined sugar) is brown sugar with the molasses, etc. REMOVED.

[@SimonMester]

Because the calorie upkeep of muscle is 'bout 4 times higher than that of fat. Economicly, the right decision is to burn the muscle first, reducing the overall upkeep needed, while also gaining some energy. if it continues long enough it burns the fat too. On the long run, you can run longer while straving if you burn muscle first.

[@angelablack9564]

this is so cool, thank you, I always wondered how sugars and sweeteners work

[@yranac]

"so you've got your tongue, at least I hope you do" hahaha. *instant like*

[@Eriko94]

Great episode Hank! :D

[@RusticKey]

Exactly, sucralose might sound dangerous with the chlorine in it, but once the chlorine gets those extra electrons they need they're pretty much neutral ... ... right?

[@CrawfordAutomation]

What i'm understanding is that if you are de-programming your natural instincts for calorie tracking you should start tracking them consciously. Then there in so reason no to use artificial sweeteners as long as you don't have any other adverse effects.

[@AshlarPhoenix]

“Just a dab’ll do ya” Best. Line. Ever.

[@sicariusaevita2635]

Sodium Ions in a neutral solution that does not contain ions that form strong salts is almost always safe... And vice versa for chloride - chlorine ions...