Assessment of the prevalence of the use of artificial sweeteners for diabetic patients and awareness of their harms in Damascus Hospital

Abstract

Abstract Background: The importance of the research lies in the fact that it sheds light on an important medical issue, which is the widespread use of artificial sweeteners, especially among diabetics, with the aim of clarifying the risks they carry in addition to their disadvantages, and sensing the amount of awareness among patients of these risks, which allows finding a solution formula that guarantees a diabetic patient a happy and low-morbidity life. methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted in Damascus Hospital in the Syrian Arab Republic in the city of Damascus from February 2023 to July 2023. A paper questionnaire was conducted and the files of patients attending the Endocrinology Division in Damascus Hospital were followed up. The study sample included 400 randomly collected cases, and 64 cases were excluded. Results: The majority of the participants were females (57.1%), and the age group was 42-56 years, with mean of 47 years. In view of diabetes, and as we mentioned above, that (100%) of the respondents had diabetes, the largest percentage was infected from more than ten years, with a second type, which is the most common. The first of our relationships was about the type of industrial and natural sugar used by the sample groups separately, and the results showed that (46.7%) used saccharin, followed by 25.70% of stevia, and as for the natural sweetener (48.6%) used dates, followed by about (14%) who used natural honey alone. we presented a group of the damages of artificial sweeteners to the sample groups, and we conducted statistics on them to find out the extent to which patients are affected by such damages and how common they are, moving from the nervous system to the digestive, cardiovascular and vascular systems. Conclusion: Awareness of the harms of artificial sweeteners was little, with a good spread of their negative effects on public health, and we managed to present useful results about the prevalence of artificial and natural sweeteners and the wrong application of them among diabetics in order to find solutions that reduce the severity of the disease and the spread of its negative effects.