| Low calorie sweeteners may increase your calorie intake! |
| Saturday, 16 February 2008 | |
 Studies on rats show that they get fatter on diets containing artificial sweeteners than those containing ordinary sugar (New Scientist 16th Feb 2008). In a study at Purdue University in West Lafayette, Indiana, rats were given yogurt sweetened with either sugar or saccharin together with unrestricted rat food and water. After 5 weeks the rats which got the saccharin, had eaten more rat food, accumulated more body fat and gained more weight than the other rats. Furthermore, the sugar fed rats ate less after being given a high calorie chocolate pudding treat, than their saccharin fed counterparts. The conclusion drawn was that these animals use sweetness to predict a sated feeling. When there is a consistent relationship between sweetness and calories it seems to be used to regulate intake. The use of artificial sweeteners can disturb this automatic process. So it seems as if eating or drinking the real thing is more likely to help you stay in balance without having to think about it. A word of warning. Whilst rats are said to be physiologically similar to humans, and relatively complex animals, I wonder whether they have the same cultural and psychological pressures around food and eating. I would like to see the same study done on us before drawing a conclusion. That said, the advice in my last blog was that we should where possible avoid foods that have ingredients which would be more at home in a chemistry lab, and perhaps artificial sweeteners are a case in point. Now I’m asking myself about the meal replacements I offer as a choice in my SuperSlimming programme. Yep, some artificial sweeteners and chemically sounding ingredients, but also a whole range of vitamins and minerals and of course the fat targeting special formulation. Should I be recommending it when in the same breath I’m advocating more natural eating? Well, many of my clients want to make a kick start to their weight loss plans. And I know that my recommended product is very effective. You can probably get the same result from switching your diet, but it is likely to take longer. In general I would say that for the longer term you should be looking at your attitudes and issues around food and eating, you should be looking at your level of exercise, and you should be looking at your dietary habits. If you want to make some initial headway by using something you don’t have to think hard about and that is effective, well isn’t it nice to have that choice?
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