Reconsider Your Diet Drinks as a Weight Loss Measure

Switching to diet soda for weight loss can have more side effects than just synthetic aftertaste.

Switching to diet soda for weight loss can have more side effects than just synthetic aftertaste. Artificial sweetener sucralose in the drinks increases the appetite and food cravings in obese women and people as per one of the largest to-date study at the Keck School of Medicine of USC, published in JAMA Network Open.

It is estimated that more than 40% of U.S. adults use NNSs to satisfy their sweet tooth in a calorie-free way and weight loss goals. Nevertheless, the health consequences of artificial sweeteners are still highly debated.

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‘Switching to diet soda for weight loss can have more side effects than just synthetic aftertaste. Artificial sweetener sucralose in the drinks increases the appetite and food cravings in obese women and people. ’

“There is controversy surrounding the use of artificial sweeteners because a lot of people are using them for weight loss. While some studies suggest they may be helpful, others show they may be contributing to weight gain, type 2 diabetes and other metabolic disorders. Our study looked at different population groups to tease out some of the reasons behind those conflicting results,” says Kathleen Page, MD, the study’s corresponding author and an associate professor of medicine at the Keck School of Medicine.

The study also examined the effects of a non-nutritive sweetener (NNS) – an artificial sweetener on appetite responses and brain activity in various population groups.

The team examined 74 participants who consumed 300 milliliters of a drink sweetened with sucrose (table sugar), a drink sweetened with the NNS sucralose or water as a control.

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Effects of Artificial Sweetener

Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) was used to measure brain activity and other parameters like insulin, blood sugar, and other metabolic hormones in the blood were also analyzed.

Junk Food Cravings Not Triggered by Diet Drinks
Researchers have claimed that sugar-free fizzy drinks are not behind cravings for junk food.

It was found that the brain regions responsible for food cravings and appetite in both obese women and people had increased activity after they consumed sucralose-containing drinks when compared to drinks containing real sugar.

Moreover, a decrease in levels of satiety hormones (feeling of fullness) was also seen after consumption of the sucralose-containing drink when compared to the sucrose-containing drink. In addition, the frequency of snaking was raised in these participants. This suggests that artificially sweetened beverages may not be effective in suppressing hunger.

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“Our study starts to provide context for the mixed results from previous studies when it comes to the neural and behavioral effects of artificial sweeteners. By studying different groups we were able to show that females and people with obesity may be more sensitive to artificial sweeteners. For these groups, drinking artificially sweetened drinks may trick the brain into feeling hungry, which may in turn result in more calories being consumed,” says, Page.

Source-Medindia