You’re weight watching so you’re avoiding sugar, the real thing, but thanks to the many artificial sweeteners on the market today, you haven’t actually given up sweet treats.

• So at breakfast time, you enjoy a caffeine fix, sweetened with a packet of Splenda or two Canderal? tablets and a bowl of cereal, sprinkled with sweetener.
• Lunch time you have your sandwich, washed down with a Diet Coke
• Dinner time ends with a fabulous cheese cake, sweetened with some liquid sweetener

You’re having your sweet treats, without calories ! Dieting BLISS.

Sweet treats have consequences

Oops………. using an artificial sweetener might not count towards your CALORIES IN, but that artificial sweetener, may not be quite as innocent, as you think. Granted it is better than spoonfuls of sugar, but it still has effects. 210

Researchers from Washington University School of Medicine, in St Louis, have found artificially sweetened sweet treats, do have metabolic consequences, particularly for people who have weight issues.

The artificial sweetener test

The research team selected people who were obese, but were insulin sensitive and not big artificial sweetener users – 17 people in total, participated in the study.

NOTE : Obesity is more often than not associated with insulin resistance, but it is estimated, around 25 % of people who are obese are insulin sensitive. Unfortunately, you can be “skinny” and be insulin resistant.

The participants did a glucose-tolerance test on two different occasions, a glucose-tolerance test is designed to test how well your body copes with a big sugar load. Diabetics fail the test miserably, insulin resistant people give a lac lustre performance. Since these obese people were metabolically healthy, they had no problem passing the test.

But to make it a little more interesting, the researchers added a twist to the test, the test was either preceded by a glass of water or a glass of water, sweetened with sucralose.

Sweet deceit

The sucralose caused a sugar spike ! SURPRISE, SURPRISE !

No one knows how, it does not make sense, sucralose is chemically distinct from glucose. But, in the people in this study, glucose levels were significantly higher, when they consumed sucralose before the test.

Along with the higher sugar level, they also showed higher insulin levels.

So……… body’s “see” sucralose as a sugar, and react accordingly. But, because of the chemical wizardary, sucralose does not get processed into energy i.e. it is calorie free.

Does it matter that the body is seeing sugar ?

Hyperinsulinemia is trouble

Insulin’s big job in the body is to store calories, especially sugar calories. So when insulin levels are high, the body is in fat storing mode, not fat burning mode…….. making you fatter.

Eish ! The whole point of “DIET” foods is to stop obesity.

And the fat is stored, around the middle, as so called belly fat. Belly fat is trouble with a capital T. It is one of the tell tale signs of metabolic syndrome, which is for all intense and purposes, a heart attack waiting to happen.

A nagging wife

Too much insulin on a regular basis, probably contributes to insulin resistance.

Think of insulin like a nagging wife. To maintain some level of sanity, the continuous badgering demanding action, is tuned out. When cells tune out insulin, they become insulin resistant.

The body is caught in a vicious cycle.

Sweet treats

Could the widespread use of artificial sweeteners be contributing to the obesity and diabetes epidemics ? Maybe. There is no such thing as a free lunch ! Calorie free still has metabolic consequences.

This research suggests, sweet treats should be just that treats, not every meal occurrences.

Adjust your thinking, artificial sweeteners are calorie free, but they are not impact free – try to limit their consumption.

Further reading

Sucralose may taste good on the tongue but it doesn’t quite cut it in the brain	The semantics of dieting can easily lead to dieting faux pas	Watching your figure could make you lose your marbles