Do you know that a recent research showed that using artificial sweeteners might be related to weight gain? Amazing isn’t it?

The research was conducted by a team of scientists from Purdue University in USA and was published in the journal Behavioral Neuroscience.

In the experiment were used two groups of rats – each fed with yoghurt. The first group was fed with artificial sweetened yoghurt and the second one with crystal sugar sweetened yoghurt. After that each group was given food – plenty of it. The results were amazing:

The group of rats fed with yoghurt sweetened with artificial sweetener gained more weight and put on more fat compared to the other group.

Imagine if you drink your favorite morning coffee sweetened with saccharin and then eat up a lot of the chocolates and sweets from the local vending machine. Eventually you gain weight, whereas your closest coworker drinks her coffee with sugar and stays the same weight. Sound terrible, but it could be true…

It is all explained by the theory for sweet expectations:

Normally the sweet taste in the mouth primes the metabolism for the arrival of more high caloric or sweet meal. When that meal does not arrive, according to the theory, the body might get confused and have problems to regulate its appetite when other food is present around.

If this theory is true the low-calorie artificial sweeteners could have a similar effect.

My opinion

Do not forget that artificial sweeteners have helped so many people to lose weight when eating foods sweetened with them. This is still a very solid fact and one single (although very interesting) study conducted using rats does not prove for sure anything and cannot overrule the many health benefits of using artificial sweeteners all at once.

I will try this theory myself and see if I feel the same way. Currently I am a sugar lover and I will be happy if all this turns out to be true, so I wouldn’t need to switch to sweeteners in order to lose weight.

Source: BBC News (February 2008)