The Diet Coke Weight-Gain Paradox : LC Research/Media Forum : Active Low-Carber Forums

#1 ^

Sat, Aug-23-14, 15:08

Judynyc

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The Diet Coke Weight-Gain Paradox

The Diet Coke Weight-Gain Paradox- The Atlantic

Artificial sweeteners probably don't cause weight gain, when used strategically.
James Hamblin
Aug 22 2014, 12:22 PM ET

http://www.theatlantic.com/health/a...ly-okay/378937/

Quote:

As pervasive as aspartame, sucralose, stevia, and other low-calorie sweeteners have become, understanding of their health effects is relatively basic. Not to be scary about it; most signs point to no serious concerns, and eating too much sugar does point to serious concerns, and life demands sweetness. But the scale on which low-calorie sweeteners been introduced to our diets in recent decades is massive, and they are evolutionarily novel, so it's good to keep an eye on the latest research on what these chemicals are doing to us, which is this.

The September issue of The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition just published a meta-analysis of the existing research on artificial sweeteners and weight gain. The conclusion lands in support of artificial sweeteners in the right context, specifically when they are substituted for sugar. People tend to see "modest weight loss," suggesting that low-calorie sweeteners (LCSs) indeed "may be a useful dietary tool to improve compliance with weight-loss or weight-maintenance plans."

That might seem obvious, but several studies have suggested that eating/drinking these nutritive sweeteners actually leads to weight gain. That has to do with satiety signals, effects on insulin levels, changes in the body's fluid balances, and other not-immediately-apparent downstream factors.

In the 1970s, one study of 31,940 women found that saccharin users gained more weight than non-users. A 2008 study titled "Fueling the Obesity Epidemic? Artificially Sweetened Beverage Use and Long-Term Weight Gain" looked at 3,682 participants in the famous San Antonio Heart Study and found that people who used artificial sweeteners gained more weight than non-users over the course of the trial. And a widely cited prospective study of 78,694 middle-aged women in the 1980s found that those who used artificial sweeteners were more likely to gain weight.

Those are all just correlations, but consuming artificial sweeteners in isolation has also been shown to make people hungrier later on. Dr. Barry Popkin, a distinguished professor of global nutrition at the University of North Carolina, wrote in a recent literature review that since most artificial sweeteners aren't consumed in isolation, that's not really an issue. So the key distinction in studying and using these sweeteners is the idea of replacement as opposed to addition.

In addition to the sweeteners I mentioned, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration also allows use of acesulfame potassium, luo han guo extract, neotame, saccharin, erythritol, hydrogenated starch hydrolysates, isomalt, lactitol, maltitol, mannitol, sorbitol, and xylitol; other countries also use cyclamate, thaumatin, neohesperidin dihydrochalcone, alitame, and polyglycitol syrup. More are on the way. Still the largest randomized-control trial to look at weight gain as a function of replacement of sugar with low-calorie sweeteners involved 641 people, which is not a ton of people, and the study only lasted 18 months, which is not a ton of months. It did find that replacing sugar-sweetened beverages with low-calorie sweetened beverages reduced weight gain and fat accumulation in normal-weight children.

"It would not be expected for a single dietary change, i.e., replacement of sugar with low-calorie sweeteners, to cause clinically meaningful weight loss," the current study reads. Weight management is really about overall dietary and lifestyle patterns. But it's worth considering if you think of an afternoon Diet Coke as a bonus, as opposed to replacing a regularly scheduled Coke heavy.

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#2 ^

Sat, Aug-23-14, 22:24

M Levac

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Quote:

Those are all just correlations, but consuming artificial sweeteners in isolation has also been shown to make people hungrier later on. Dr. Barry Popkin, a distinguished professor of global nutrition at the University of North Carolina, wrote in a recent literature review that since most artificial sweeteners aren't consumed in isolation, that's not really an issue. So the key distinction in studying and using these sweeteners is the idea of replacement as opposed to addition.

So we can't draw definitive conclusions about the correlations we see, but we can draw the definitive conclusion that it's not an issue here. Let's be consistent with our reasoning, please. If a substance is shown to produce an effect in isolation, then the substance is shown to produce an effect. The best we can expect is the effect this substance is shown to produce is less than the effect it replaces.

Quote:

It did find that replacing sugar-sweetened beverages with low-calorie sweetened beverages reduced weight gain and fat accumulation in normal-weight children.

Yeah, I just said that.

There's no paradox. It makes people fatter, only less so than what it replaces. The paradox only exists when we believe it's all about calories, and artificial sweeteners don't contain calories.

#3 ^

Sun, Aug-24-14, 00:32

ojoj

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I'm just an "anecdote" lol, but I drink gallons of diet coke everyday. I'm totally addicted. I started this WOE 11 years ago, lost 85lbs and kept it off, drinking diet coke all the way thru. Certainly for me, its made no difference weight wise.

Jo xxx

#4 ^

Sun, Aug-24-14, 06:55

teaser

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Do they put it in their drinks? Sprinkle it over cereal?

Not a properly controlled study, or anything like that, but when I have artificial sweetener with heavy cream and berries, it does seem to be fattening... but if I have way more heavy cream with liquid sweetener (so no carbohydrate bulking agent), it doesn't seem to have that effect. Of course I'm also eating less protein, etc.--but still suggestive that under at least some conditions, there's nothing fattening about the artificial sweeteners I use. For me. I can also double OJOJ's experience with the diet pop--my intake isn't as consistent as hers, but there are times when it's pretty high, with no obvious effect one way or the other.

Although I find when I'm deeper into ketosis, the pop starts tasting too sweet. It makes sense that offering sufficient ketones to the brain might decrease the craving for sweet. I've had the same thing happen with a banana overfeeding experiment--instead of becoming desensitized to sweetness, it was upregulated, and diet pop tasted disgusting.

Mouse studies show sweeteners can be fattening, but it depends on the nature of the exposure. Add saccharin to fat chow=fattening, but only if the rats have never had saccharin before. Give them saccharin without calories for a couple of weeks before the saccharin chow--and it's no longer fattening.

But then--feed them high-sugar chow. Suddenly it might be fattening--because the animals have learned to disassociate sweetness with calories. But I'm not sure of that last. It works if you feed mice chow with saccharin, and then switch to chow with sugar, and go back and forth. The saccharin exposure might need to be paired with the chow for the confusion over sugar in chow to take effect.

To me all that mess, if it's a matter of conditioning, seems to predict the variability in response to sweeteners that gets regularly reported on this board.