Dec. 20, 2013
By Medical Discovery News
Those reaching for a packet of artificial sweetener to satisfy a sweet tooth without adding calories may want to think again – the long-time diet staple may actually lead to serious unintended side effects.
Artificial sweeteners include the recently launched Stevia products like Truvia and the compounds aspartame (found in Equal), saccharin (Sweet N’ Low), and sucralose (Splenda). These were developed because they add no caloric content to the foods they are added to, but they stimulate the sweet receptors on the tongue. Non-caloric sweeteners are popular with those working to control their weight because of the allure of no calories without sacrificing sweetness.
Consider one product – yogurt. There can be 200 calories or more in those sweetened with sugar while the artificially sweetened varieties come in under 100 calories. The shine of artificial sweeteners may be wearing off though, as some recent studies suggest their use may actually lead to weight gain.
The first sign that artificial sweeteners weren’t as harmless as they seem was a study in the 1970s that linked saccharin to bladder cancer, although those results aren’t substantiated, and approved artificial sweeteners are now considered generally safe for human consumption.
In a new study at Washington University in St. Louis, scientists looked at people with a body mass index (BMI) of over 42 (30 and over is considered obese), who don’t have diabetes and don’t regularly use sweeteners. Individuals were divided into two groups and given the artificial sweetener sucralose or water before ingesting a solution of glucose, the same amount given during a glucose tolerance test. On a separate day, the groups were reversed so researchers could compare the effects in each person.
The results were surprising. When individuals drank sucralose before ingesting glucose, their insulin levels peaked at a higher level and increased by about 20 percent more than those drinking water alone. This means that sucralose was affecting insulin and blood glucose levels. Previously, scientists thought that these sweeteners did not have an effect on sugar metabolism.
It turns out that there are sweet responsive receptors in the gut and pancreas that are similar to those found on the human tongue. When they are stimulated, they can cause an increase in the release of hormones including insulin. This in turn causes more sugar to be absorbed in the gut and subsequently higher levels in the blood. For unknown reasons, it happens only in the obese. An elevation in insulin levels can contribute to insulin resistance and type 2 diabetes.
One thing is for sure – further research will help scientists understand the effects of artificial sweeteners on human metabolism.
For a link to this story, click here.
Pamela K. Bond 