Artificial Sweeteners Increase Weight?
Artificial Sweeteners Increase Weight?
Feb. 11, 2008 -- It may sound counterintuitive, but replacing the sugar indiet sodas and other foods with reduced- and no-calorie sweeteners may make weight control harder, a smallanimal study shows.
Rats in the Purdue University study that were fed regular feed and yogurtsweetened with no-calorie saccharin took in more total calories and gained moreweight than rats fed regularfeed and yogurt sweetened with sugar.
Researchers speculate that over time, reduced-calorie sweeteners likesaccharin, aspartame, and sucralose condition the body to no longer associatesweetness with calories, thereby disrupting its ability to accurately assess caloric intake.
This disruption may, in turn, lead to overeating, they note.
"If this is the case in rats, there is little reason to think thathumans don't have this same response," researcher Susan Swithers, PhD tellsWebMD. "It is possible that consuming these products interferes with one ofthe mechanisms that helps to regulate weight."
She adds that this could help explain why the dramatic rise in obesity has occurred at thesame time that sales of diet sodas and other products containing low-caloriesweeteners have skyrocketed.
(Do you use artificialsweeteners as part of your diet? Tell us about it on WebMD's Dieting Club: 25 – 50 Lbs to Lose message board.)
But a spokeswoman for the low-calorie sweetener industry was highly criticalof the research, noting that the study involved just 27 rats.
"I think studies like this are a disservice to the consumer because theyoversimplify the causes of obesity," registered dietitian Beth Hubrich ofthe Calorie Control Council tells WebMD.
"It is true that there has been an increase in the use of low-caloriesweeteners at the same time that we have seen an increase in obesity, but therehas also been an increase in the use of cell phones and nobody is suggestingthat they are causing obesity."
Do Sweeteners in Diet Soda Increase Weight?
Rat Study Links Weight Gain to Low-Calorie Sweeteners; Critics Say No Relevance for Humans
Feb. 11, 2008 -- It may sound counterintuitive, but replacing the sugar indiet sodas and other foods with reduced- and no-calorie sweeteners may make weight control harder, a smallanimal study shows.
Rats in the Purdue University study that were fed regular feed and yogurtsweetened with no-calorie saccharin took in more total calories and gained moreweight than rats fed regularfeed and yogurt sweetened with sugar.
Researchers speculate that over time, reduced-calorie sweeteners likesaccharin, aspartame, and sucralose condition the body to no longer associatesweetness with calories, thereby disrupting its ability to accurately assess caloric intake.
This disruption may, in turn, lead to overeating, they note.
"If this is the case in rats, there is little reason to think thathumans don't have this same response," researcher Susan Swithers, PhD tellsWebMD. "It is possible that consuming these products interferes with one ofthe mechanisms that helps to regulate weight."
She adds that this could help explain why the dramatic rise in obesity has occurred at thesame time that sales of diet sodas and other products containing low-caloriesweeteners have skyrocketed.
(Do you use artificialsweeteners as part of your diet? Tell us about it on WebMD's Dieting Club: 25 – 50 Lbs to Lose message board.)
Industry Response
But a spokeswoman for the low-calorie sweetener industry was highly criticalof the research, noting that the study involved just 27 rats.
"I think studies like this are a disservice to the consumer because theyoversimplify the causes of obesity," registered dietitian Beth Hubrich ofthe Calorie Control Council tells WebMD.
"It is true that there has been an increase in the use of low-caloriesweeteners at the same time that we have seen an increase in obesity, but therehas also been an increase in the use of cell phones and nobody is suggestingthat they are causing obesity."
