Can Artificial Sweeteners Make You Gain Weight?
By: Katherine Loukianoff
A recent study, published in the February 2008 issue on Behavioral Neuroscience of the Journal of American Psychological Association, suggested that eating artificial sweeteners could actually cause gain weight. The study was based at the Ingestive Behavior Research Center at Purdue University, conducted on adult male laboratory rats. One group was provided yogurt that was naturally sweetened with glucose, and the second group was fed yogurt that was sweetened with the zero-calorie saccharin.
Statistically significant results showed that the rats fed the saccharin sweetened yogurt consumed more calories, gained more weight and body fat, and did not cut back on their calorie consumption over a longer period of time compared to the group fed the yogurt naturally sweetened. The authors also measured the core body temperature to see the effects the sweeteners had on the body. Normally when an animal is getting ready to eat there is a “metabolic engine” that is getting ready, and raises the core body temperature. The authors stated the group fed the artificial sweeteners did not experience as much increase of body temperature as those fed the naturally sweetened yogurt.
The authors of this study suggest that when animals eat something with a sweet taste there is anticipation for higher calorie content food. Artificial sweeteners provide that sweet taste; however, the sweeteners are lacking in the calories. They suggest that this can cause an energy imbalance because the animal may increase food intake or decrease the amount of energy being expended. The researchers expect that other sweeteners besides saccharin would produce similar results. Authors also suggested increase weight and body fat from artificial sweetener use could be contributing to the increased obesity in America. Although many health professionals may be hesitant to believe this study because of various studies that show some weight gain, and others that show weight loss with artificial sweeteners, there have been more studies that show people who consume the artificially sweetened diet beverages are at increased risk for obesity and metabolic syndrome.
What does this all mean for us? Well the studies were conducted on rats, and although the researchers suggest there would be similar results in humans there isn’t a lot of data to support this. Decreasing the artificial sweeteners that we use would not hurt us at all. Although artificial sweeteners are considered to be safe, it really is not known if there are any long-term affects that many artificial sweeteners may have on our bodies. This study may be one of them, with the side effect of causing increased calorie consumption. Many use these in place of high calorie natural sweeteners, so cutting them out entirely may be difficult. The next time you are at the coffee shop reaching for some type of sweetener for your beverage it is up to you to decide what you want to sweeten with.
To read the abstract of this study, go to:
http://psycnet.apa.org/index.cfm?fa=search.displayRecord&uid=2008-01943-017
A recent study, published in the February 2008 issue on Behavioral Neuroscience of the Journal of American Psychological Association, suggested that eating artificial sweeteners could actually cause gain weight. The study was based at the Ingestive Behavior Research Center at Purdue University, conducted on adult male laboratory rats. One group was provided yogurt that was naturally sweetened with glucose, and the second group was fed yogurt that was sweetened with the zero-calorie saccharin.
Statistically significant results showed that the rats fed the saccharin sweetened yogurt consumed more calories, gained more weight and body fat, and did not cut back on their calorie consumption over a longer period of time compared to the group fed the yogurt naturally sweetened. The authors also measured the core body temperature to see the effects the sweeteners had on the body. Normally when an animal is getting ready to eat there is a “metabolic engine” that is getting ready, and raises the core body temperature. The authors stated the group fed the artificial sweeteners did not experience as much increase of body temperature as those fed the naturally sweetened yogurt.
The authors of this study suggest that when animals eat something with a sweet taste there is anticipation for higher calorie content food. Artificial sweeteners provide that sweet taste; however, the sweeteners are lacking in the calories. They suggest that this can cause an energy imbalance because the animal may increase food intake or decrease the amount of energy being expended. The researchers expect that other sweeteners besides saccharin would produce similar results. Authors also suggested increase weight and body fat from artificial sweetener use could be contributing to the increased obesity in America. Although many health professionals may be hesitant to believe this study because of various studies that show some weight gain, and others that show weight loss with artificial sweeteners, there have been more studies that show people who consume the artificially sweetened diet beverages are at increased risk for obesity and metabolic syndrome.
What does this all mean for us? Well the studies were conducted on rats, and although the researchers suggest there would be similar results in humans there isn’t a lot of data to support this. Decreasing the artificial sweeteners that we use would not hurt us at all. Although artificial sweeteners are considered to be safe, it really is not known if there are any long-term affects that many artificial sweeteners may have on our bodies. This study may be one of them, with the side effect of causing increased calorie consumption. Many use these in place of high calorie natural sweeteners, so cutting them out entirely may be difficult. The next time you are at the coffee shop reaching for some type of sweetener for your beverage it is up to you to decide what you want to sweeten with.
To read the abstract of this study, go to:
http://psycnet.apa.org/index.cfm?fa=search.displayRecord&uid=2008-01943-017
posted by Margie Geiser, MBA, RD, NSCA-CPT at
4:38 AM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
Subscribe to Post Comments [Atom]
<< Home