The Bitter side of Sweet
Just when we think we have it figured out, another government study comes along to bust our bubble and destroy our self-confidence and our sanity. In an attempt to lose weight, or maintain weight loss, which is fast becoming our number one health concern, many people have decided to listen to the advertising claims and switch regular for no-cal sweeteners.
Are you one who has made this switch, smugly indulging in artificial, no-calorie sweeteners; waiting for the pounds to drop off and the waist to trim? Here’s the latest bad news. Research done at Purdue University suggests that folks who use the no–cal sweeteners on a regular basis will gain weight as fast or faster than those who use an equal amount of sugar.
The first study was done on rats, given yogurt sweetened with common table sugar and rats given zero calorie saccharin. Guess who ate more, gained more, put on more body fat, and didn’t increase activity or cut back on other foods? You guessed it. The saccharine ingesting group.
The researchers guess that using saccharin interferes with the body’s natural reaction to sweets. Using saccharin seems to change the body’s ability to regulate intake. In other words, you’re eating the sweet but your body hasn’t noticed. This may be the reason that obesity has risen at the same time as use of artificial sweeteners has.
Ordinarily, when we eat sweets, there is an increase in metabolic rate. It’s our body’s way of maintaining the weight set point; eat sweets and jiggle around until you have burned off the calories. The use of artificial sweeteners does not seem to cause this same response, or only a blunted response. Test subjects experienced no–or only a small amount of–increase in body temperature when they had an artificially sweetened treat. It’s as if their engine failed to rev up as it normally would when a sweetie treatie is ingested. This blunted response is likely the reason for overeating and the difficulty burning off the sweetie calories.
This study, as well as others of similar type provides ample evidence that people who drink more diet drinks are at higher risk for obesity and metabolic syndrome (the name given to the warning bells of medical indicators such as abdominal fat, high blood pressure and insulin resistance). This also means an increasing risk of heart disease and diabetes.
So what’s the bottom line in all this? You may not want to hear it, but the best thing to do is pour out the diet soda, throw away the saccharine sweetened products, and concentrate on natural forms of sweets such as fruits and berries.
The good news is that summer is just around the corner. We just saw the first cherries and strawberries in our Farmers Markets, so the timing is perfect to make the change from artificial to natural.
Jerry Gonzales
Spenda is artificial, as in phoney/fake, as in watch out! Artificial sweetners have been known to cause all kinds of problems like Cancer. I being diabetic use stevia. It’s not artifial, but a natual sweetner thats several times sweeter than sugar without the glycimic effects of sugar. It has a downside however as it has some bitter after taste. Ther is some stevia that has had the bitterness removed. Just check the web or health-food stores.
Lynn Difley
The Splenda image has been deleted and a Saccharin image added. Sorry for the confusion.
Larry
I’d be interested to see this same study with Splenda. Splenda is sucralose which is a derivative of sucrose. Essentially it’s artificial sweetner made from sugar. I wonder if that would increase metabolic rate like sugar does?
I use Splenda sometimes, it’s way better than Equal or SnL, but most of the time I use regular sugar. I agree that nature’s sweetners, fruits and honey, are much healthier than any processed sweetners. However, Splenda has been a Godsend for many diabetics.
John Ahrens
I agree with 2oldman that your picture doesn’t match your study. Splenda is rapidly replacing Saccharine as the artificial sweetener of choice. The study only applies to Saccharine. The results MAY be the same for Splenda, but we can’t be sure without the research to support it.
Also, apparently similar results as you mention apply to high fructose corn sweetener, the preferred sweetener in naturally sweetened foods. Our bodies don’t necessarily react the same way as with sucrose (table sugar). The result being that we don’t feel full as fast as we should, and tend to overeat. So don’t feel smug if you drink regular soft drinks, or naturally sweetened snacks, as they are almost certainly sweetened with high fructose corn sweetener. Natural sugar, apparently has the strongest appetite reduction capability of any sweetener.
As usual, YMMV (Your Mileage May Vary). Do your own research, and draw your own conclusions about what’s best for you.
2oldman
You show a picture of Splenda brand sweetener, which, according to the contents label, is not Saccharine.
The bottom line isn’t so much what sweetener you use, it’s how much more calories you burn rather than consume. And we all know what pain that is.