Sugar Free Sweeteners: A Dieter's Nightmare?

In recent years, obesity has become a major health concern in America. Leading to other major health problems such as heart disease, hypertension, diabetes,stroke and cancer, it has become a major topic of recent research anddiscussion. As most know, a combination of diet and exercise help to reduce body fat and therefore decrease obesity. The word “diet” has become a major part of one’s vocabulary as an American. When one thinks of diet, however, it is almost an automatic response to think of some sort of restriction on what you can and cannot consume. For some, it may be a reduction of fats, or carbohydrates, or perhaps the amount of sugar in ones’ diet. Recent research suggests, however, that by reducing the amount of natural sugar you consume, and increasing the amount of the alternative “no calorie sweetener”, you may be sabotaging your dieting efforts.
In a recent research study carried out at Purdue University in Illinois, lab rats were divided into groups of those that consumed yogurt with natural sugar,and those that consumed yogurt prepared with artificial sweeteners. According to the study results, the lab rats that were given the artificial sweeteners were more likely to eat more food and exercise less than those that were given the real thing. It is understandable to see that they would be less energetic from lack of energy in sugar calories, but why would they be more likely to eat more? This seems to be due to some sort of miscommunication between the taste buds, the brain, and the rats’ metabolism. When your body receives the signal from the taste buds that it just consumed something sweet, it triggers the brain to prepare your metabolism for a high calorie load. When the calories do not appear, your body has a difficult time bouncing back to a stable appetite, and therefore,when more food is presented in front of you, you are more likely to eat it, according to Susan Swithers of Purdue University. http://www.sciam.com/article/cfm?id=artificial-sweetener-linked-weight-gain
Further research suggests that there could be something else causing weight gain from artificial sweeteners. According to an article written by Jennifer Warner and reviewed by Brunilda Nazario, MD, artificial sweeteners may fool the body into thinking that foods with actual sugars have less calories than they actually do, interfering with the body’s natural calorie counting ability. This also leads to overindulging, bringing us back to the obesity problem. Before artificial sweeteners were introduced, a food’s sweetness was able to give clues about how much energy the food contained. According to Swithers,

“Before things like artificial sweeteners, these relationships would be very
reliable….it’s only been relatively recently that foods have been introduced to
violate those kinds of relationships.”http://www.medicinenet.com/script/main/art/asp?articlekey=55667

The statistics show that over the past few decades, more people are consuming sugar substitutes, but their waste lines are not shrinking, but instead growing, which helps to show the relationship between artificial sweeteners and weight gain.
A healthy diet needs to consist of balance of healthy fats, proteins, carbohydrates, and simple sugars. By using alternatives in order to make dieting easier, we could be doing more harm than good by confusing our body’s natural responses.
post by: Meaghan Elliott