Weight Loss without Worry

     The debate over the health benefits of artificial sweeteners has come to a peak…again.  This time researchers are not focused on whether the chemicals that make up these zero-calorie sweeteners are harmful to the body, they are actually asking if they are making us fat.

     Researchers at Purdue University studied two groups of rats.  One group was fed yogurt sweetened with non-calorie saccharin and the other group ate the same food sweetened with sugar.  The saccharin group ended up eating more and gaining more weight than the group feed sugar.

     Researchers speculate that the sweetness of the sugar substitute may send a signal to the body to expect a large amount of calories which in turn causes the body to rev up in preparation to burn the calories.  But what happens is the calories never come so the body adapts and the next time something sweet is eaten and followed by calories the body is not prepared turning the excess calories to fat.  Think of it like the story of the boy who cried wolf.  The artificial sweetener is fooling the body into thinking calories are coming making the body less responsive when calories actually do come.

     This hypothesis might sound a bit far fetched except for the fact that there are some scientific findings that back it up.   It was shown that the rats that were accustomed to the artificial sweetener did not show a significant rise in their body temperature after eating which may mean that their appetite control mechanism had been disrupted from consuming the artificial sweeteners.  This may contribute to them eating more.

     It seems the biggest debate that came from this study is whether the metabolism of rats is comparable to the metabolism of people.  There are obvious differences here but there have been studies done looking at artificial sweeteners and humans.  For instance researchers from the Framingham heart study found that people who drank one or more cans of soda a day, regardless of whether it was diet or regular, were 48 % more likely to suffer from obesity and other health problems.

     So what can we conclude for sure?  I think mother nature wins this battle.  There is more research to be done before we can be certain of the health ramification of diet or regular soda but I think we can conclude that we would be better off avoiding these man-made drinks and having a glass of water or a cup of tea instead.  

Sources of this story:

Artificial Sweetners May Cause Weight Gain

Sugar Substitutes May Contribute to Weight Gain