If you have been using artificial sweeteners thinking you are saving calories, you will be surprised to learn that results of repeated researches have shown that artificial sugars stimulate your appetite, increase your craving for sugar and carbohydrates, as well as stimulating fat storage and weight gain. Recent studies have also proved that artificial sweeteners, like saccharin and aspartame, cause even more weight gain than sugar. As such, the belief that foods and beverages that are artificially sweetened will help you lose weight has been a huge lie. Research has also corroborated the fact that large amounts of artificial sweeteners can actually worsen insulin sensitivity.
Something very few people are aware of is that the use of artificial sweeteners also has detrimental effect on appetite control. These fake sugars make you crave for more food, which in turn makes you gain weight. If you have followed the popular belief that artificial sweeteners help you lose weight, you probably have noticed that your appetite actually gets stronger when you consume them. Further experiments have found that the sweet taste, no matter what the caloric its content is, boosts your appetite. Unlike some natural sugars like glucose or sucrose, low or no calorie sweeteners trigger biological reactions that keep your energy consumption constant. As such, this results in increased food intake and subsequent weight. Artificial sweeteners won’t allow your body to determine the healthy amounts of calories, automatically sharpening your appetite for more food.
The Scientific Evidence
One popular study, published in the January 2013 issue of the journal Appetite, was done by a Brazilian research team with the Faculty of Medicine of the Federal University do Rio Grande do Sul. Rats were fed plain yogurt sweetened with either, aspartame, saccharin, or sugar, plus their regular rat food, for 12 weeks.
“Results showed that addition of either saccharin or aspartame to yogurt resulted in increased weight gain compared to addition of sucrose, however total caloric intake was similar among groups.”
The Researchers Wrote
The reason for the similar calorie consumption between the groups was due to increased food consumption by the rats given artificially sweetened yogurt This type of compensation has been found in previous studies as well, indicating that when your body gets a hit of sweet taste without the calories to go with it, it adversely affects your appetite control mechanisms, causing increased food cravings.
Conclusion
Artificial sweeteners do NOT help you lose weight!
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