Why artificial sweeteners can increase appetite


(Marc) #1

Another reason why I don’t like artificial sweeteners…


(Cathy Schroder) #2

I have noticed this myself. I am a long term addict of diet drinks (TAB, Diet Pepsi, Diet Coke and in latter years Coke Zero). I have weaned myself off them numerous times only to find myself right back in that cycle months later. At its worst I was drinking more than three litres per day. I currently don’t drink them regularly, but over the New Year found myself wanting to drink something other than water for a change. It is very hot here in Australia and I rationalised (i.e. fooled myself) that having a couple couldn’t hurt. So I did. For the following two days I found it much harder to stick to keto and I was eyeing up food that doesn’t usually bother me anymore. I didn’t give in to temptation but I much prefer to avoid it altogether if possible so no more Coke Zero for me.


(G. Andrew Duthie) #3

Intriguing, but important to remember that neither fruit flies, nor mice, are humans.

Studies like these can be useful in justifying further research, but aren’t necessarily useful in proving what does or doesn’t happen with people.


(Simon Saunders) #4

Seems to me the mice became more ketogenic:

The researchers also found artificial sweeteners promoted hyperactivity, insomnia and decreased sleep quality – behaviours consistent with a mild starvation or fasting state – with similar effects on sleep also previously reported in human studies.”

Better energy, less sleep required and they said its similar to what they see in a fasted state mmmmm, sounds familiar.

And you see that Associate Professor Neely said they noted that "The pathway we discovered is part of a conserved starvation response that actually makes nutritious food taste better when you are starving"

So they found once they took away the higher carb they craved more nutriments in their diet, personally i am blaming their standard rodent chow is poor in nutrition for their energy needs, they needed a more nutrient dense rodent chow and i suspect it needed to be lower in carbohydrate (Maybe the 30% observed lol)

Finally, I for one don’t many artificial sweeteners, (I know its not popular) but there are so many myths and lie about them, i have found no difference in hunger levels at 700 calories consuming them compared to 2200 calories.

I think Professor Herzog summary is incorrect, i think a better summary would be:

“When sugar is taken away from an animal they crave a more nutrient rich diet, have more energy and require less sleep”


#5

I gave up reading up on artificial sweetener studies.

I do my own n=1 experiment.

What I discovered is that anything sweet that hits my lips causes weight stall, and even gains. I’m very sensitive.