Artificial Sweeteners May Increase Weight Gain

Does drinking low calorie or diet soda really insure that you will lose weight?  That's why you buy the diet stuff, to lose weight or to at least make certain that you don't gain.

Registered dietitian Diane Quagliani thinks that its a myth that diet sodas cause weight gain.  She has written several nutrition articles for Better Homes & Gardens, Weight Watchers Magazine,  Diane has also appeared on CNN, MSNBC, Phil Lembert’s Supermarket Guru and more and is a former spokesperson for the American Dietetic Association (ADA) and reviewed the ADA’s position paper on Food and Nutrition Misinformation.

Here is what Diane answered about the so called 'food myth' that diet sodas and “light products” cause weight gain.

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It's a myth. This myth doesn’t make much sense at all. Something that does not have calories cannot contribute to weight gain.  Cutting 150 calories a day from your diet by using light products such as diet soda, light yogurt, low-calorie sweeteners, etc., can help you lose up to 15 pounds over the course of a year.

Don’t believe the misinformation on the Internet about low-calorie sweeteners such as aspartame. Numerous studies demonstrate the safety of aspartame and its safety is supported by major health groups such as the American Medical Association, American Dietetic Association and American Diabetes Association.
 

Dr Marie Savard, an internationally-recognized internal medicine physician, leading expert in women's health and patient empowerment and who I quoted in my apple or pear shaped post has a different take on diet sodas and artificial sweeteners.  She is also the author of three nationally acclaimed books, The Body Shape Solution to Weight Loss and Wellness: The Apples & Pears Approach to Losing Weight, Living Longer, and Feeling Healthier, How to Save Your Own Life. 

Here is what Dr Savard wrote:

Calorie-conscious consumers who opt for diet sodas may gain more weight if they drank sugary drinks because of artificial sweeteners contained in the diet sodas, according to a new study.

A Purdue University study released Sunday in the Journal Behavioral Neuroscience reported that rats on diets containing the artificial sweetener saccharin gained more weight than rats given sugary food, casting doubt on the benefits of low-calorie sweeteners.

There’s something about diet foods that changes your metabolic limit, your brain chemistry. Though more research needs to be done to uncover more information, the study does hint at the idea that the sweeteners alter a person’s metabolism.

Another recent study, which included more than 18,000 people, found healthy adults who consumed at least one diet drink a day could increase their chance for weight gain. In the Purdue study, the rats whose diets contained artificial sweeteners appeared to experience a physiological connection between sweet tastes and calories, which drove them to overeat.

The taste buds taste sweet, but there’s no calorie load that comes with it. There’s a mismatch here. It seems it changes your brain chemistry in some way. Anything you put in your mouth, your body has a strong reaction to it. It’s much more than counting calories. It seems normally with sweet foods that we rev up our metabolism.

The information may come as a surprise to the 59 percent of Americans who consume diet soft drinks, making them the second-most popular low-calorie, sugar-free products in the nation, according to a consumer survey from the Calorie Control Council, a nonprofit association that represents the low-calorie and reduced-fat food and beverage industry.

Because so many foods today contain artificial sweeteners, the study results may go beyond diet drinks. The truth is, we’re putting artificial sweetener in so many different things in water, in yogurt… it’s unclear if the results only adhere to diet sodas.

To hear Dr. Savard speak on the topic of diet sodas,  watch the interview on Good Morning America, “Diet Sodas Cause Weight Gain?” with Diane Sawyer.

Diane Sawyer had quite a reaction.  I think she likes her diet drinks!

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