Tuesday, February 14, 2012

Could Your Artificial Sweetener Cause Weight Gain?

A new study published in this month’s Behavioral Neuroscience asserts that consuming no calorie sweeteners can lead to weight gain. While this particular study is new, the theory is not. Researchers have been studying the relationship between the obesity epidemic and the increase in sugar subst...
Anonymous
Alex Yaron
2/12/08 1:36pm

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.

2/15/08 1:54pm

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. Big Smile

Anonymous
Larry Shilkoff
2/20/08 12:39pm
I've noticed this for several years. I found that if I only drink a diet soda while I'm eating a meal, there's no problem. It was when I drank a diet soda between meals that hunger seemed to set in. I suspect the food provided a calorie load took care of the issue.

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