Saccharin, Making You Fat?

Well, that seems to be the case, according to a recent study made by researchers at Purdue University. These scientists worked on animal systems (rats) to show us how taking artificial sweetener saccharin may be making you actually fat instead of helping you losing weight.

What they did is take some rats and fed them with a yogurt-like mix that was sweetened with glucose. Other rats were fed with the same mix but sweetened with a zero-calorie artificial sweetener (saccharin). After a while researcher evaluated the weight and health status of the animals finding that those rats that had ingested saccharin actually weighted more than those that did not take the artificial sweetener. In fact, the artificial sweetened fed rats increased its body weight and increased its body fat content.

Now, how is this possible? If you eat less calories (less sugar) you are supposed to lose weight instead of gaining it. Well, what happens is typical of biological systems. The response to the artificial sweetener is what may be making you fat instead of helping you lose weight.

In an animal eating a regular diet with regular sugar, sugar means calories, which goes into fat deposits if not needed. This creates a reflex system within the body that is triggered when the body receives the sugary components.

Now, let's considered the animal who receives the artificial sweetener. He still receives the signal (ingestion of sweets) but no calories. What happens then? The animal goes somewhere else to get those calories, that is INGEST MORE FOODS. Basically the system get all confused with the zero-calorie food and the rat (or person) may actually eat more food or expend less energy than it would if it had ingested regular food.

The study was made on rats and not humans. However, this study, as many others, is pointing the issues with artificial sweetened food. More and more evidence is showing that drinking a lot of soft drinks (diet drinks) increases the risk of developing obesity, metabolic syndrome, high blood pressure, and insulin resistance, heart disease, and diabetes.

This may not be good news for people who have been taken soft drinks a s a way to regulate calorie intake and for medical personnel that has always recommended to phase out sugar and sweets in favor of artificial sweeteners.

More studies are needed to clarify the issues with artificial sweeteners but being the fact that there is growing evidence that artificial sweeteners do not help you lose weight plus the toxicity concern I will be very cautious about keep ingesting them

Source: Calorie Predictive Relations in Energy Regulation by Rats. Behavioral Neuroscience, Vol. 122, No. 1.