Could Your Artificial Sweetener Cause Weight Gain?

Hi,

After switching to Sweet&Lo many years ago, I have given a great deal of thought to why I have continued to gain weight. It has finally occurred to me that there is a relationship between the sweetness and the body's response to it that does not include calories.  I am hypothesizing that it is not only the calories or carbohydrates which are the switches that turn on the body's production of insulin; rather, I am now suspecting that it lies in the sensation of sweetness which is also a trigger. I am now of the opinion that it may be the taste of sweetness which triggers insulin production long before the calories have been processed by the stomach and intestines.  I hope someone does a study to determine if insulin levels go up when someone consumes a no-calorie soft drink. Common sense tells us that they should not, but maybe they do.

I'm going to stay a little suspicious. It could have to do with the lifestyle of the people in the study, or a number of other factors.

Of course, I'm skeptical because I'm a HUGE fan of Coke Zero - I admittedly drink more of it than I should (at least one a day) and my weight ranks at the bottom of the healthy range for my height. But I also eat a relatively healthy diet and exercise on a regular basis.

Until they've got something a little more scientific, I'm gonna stick with my Coke Zero.