Thursday, March 06, 2008

Artificial Sweeteners Linked To Weight Gain

Here's a fun one, Artificial Sweeteners Linked To Weight Gain. "'The data clearly indicate that consuming a food sweetened with no-calorie saccharin can lead to greater body-weight gain and adiposity than would consuming the same food sweetened with a higher-calorie sugar,' the authors wrote."

The guess is that the body is fooled by the sweetness and this throws off the regulating systems that know how to deal with hunger and processing the calories consumed. Therefore it's not just saccharin but the other artificial sweeteners that are also a problem.

Fortunately I never got into artificial sweeteners and always hated diet soda. Though about five years ago I gave up on cola. My soft drink of choice now is homemade unsweetened iced tea.

1 comment:

The Dad said...

I'm with you all the way. Where would the world be without unsweetened iced tea? And Radio Shacks, for that matter?

This theory certainly explains why no one ever lost weight switching to diet cola.

Oh, and on a only slightly related note I know a guy who quite literally drank over a dozen cans of diet coke a DAY. And that was just at work...who the heck knows what he drank at home. Anyway his doc told him he's got a bleeding ulcer. So he quit cold turkey. Man, was he a pain in the butt for a few weeks, but a much nicer individual now.

Unfortunately he was also my daughter's "cash cow" for collecting soda pop tabs for charity. No longer.