Artificial Sweeteners & Losing Weight

aquamarine114

I already posted this to the "Introduce Yourself" section by mistake but I felt I might as well post it here since it fits the section better.

So I've been looking on different websites and reading up a bit on artificial sweeteners/sugars, specifically aspartame (also known as "equal", found in diet sodas and such) and sucralose (also known as "splenda" found in sports drinks and such).

A ton of websites say that aspartame is bad and sucralose is not that bad.

I just want to know if this stuff will make losing weight harder. I read they can make you hungrier.

(Let's say 1 of 8 beverages I drink in the day is a sports drink or flavored water containing aspartame or sucralose)

Has this stuff ever made you feel like losing weight was harder?

P.S. Feel free to add me as a friend! I'm always looking for motivation

poma91

I drink my morning coffee and also tea with sweetener (I am not sure which of the two kinds). I have never felt hungrier or craved sugar after that. Actually sugar makes me crave sugar (which is normal) I consider switching to artificial sweeteners great success for myself, since I do like my coffee very sweet and I cannot just drink it black. With the time I also managed to reduce the amount of sweetener that I use. I also have read somewhere in the internet that sweeteners "make" you fat. Actually it means that when your taste buds taste sweet then your body expect to receive sugar and when it doesn't it just craves it making you binge more. I've never experienced that. Actually my cravings have reduced quite dramatically. If you crave sweet drink a protein shake - it will keep you full and satisfy your sweet tooth
Good luck!

vec2013

I use stevia or xylitol.

TheMinxyMissK

I use aspartame based sweeteners in coffee and tea, drink diet fizzies occasionally and have fat free yogurts which very often contain aspartame too. I also use it in cooking.

So far it's not made me hungrier, and I've lost coming up for 9st since June last year.

viktorijandz

For the certain amount of time, I was drinking flavoured water with different sweeteners in it and I used to feel a lot hungrier afterwards than, for example, after drinking still water. So I suppose that it really depends on individuals. Anyway, you could always search for scientific articles on this issue in medical journals if you want accuracy. :}

Lizajayne23

I also like my coffee and tea sweet. I prefer Truvia to help cut the sugar, but I've been drinking a flavored water with sucralose to replace my Southern super sweet tea. Sucralose doesn't taste sweet to me, it just covers the flavor of the water itself along with the flavoring. None of the artificial sweeteners taste sweet to me. I have not noticed any additional sweet cravings. Actually, I'm turned off from eating sweets lately because I've noticed that anything sweet causes the water to taste bad to me. Since I have to have the water, that helps me resist. I also consider the switch to be a success. Two months ago, if someone had taken my tea away, lives might have been lost. Just today, I caught myself staring longingly at a glass that my daughter left in the fridge. That was tough!

And according to my doctor, it's better to give up sugar where possible than to avoid other sweeteners. Stevia is popular but pure stevia tastes just as bad to me as equal or all of the others. And I really hate the Domino "light" mixture of sugar and "stevia".

RoBalance

I read that the sweet taste of sweeteners makes your body anticipate food, secreting digestive enzymes in response and that makes you hungrier. And also some ppl keep on craving sweet stuff. I still take sweeteners (though I avoid aspartame) because it's still better than large amounts of sugar. Maybe you will just have to see for yourself

beckymlong

Just throwing something out there, have you tried changing your drinks, I try to avoid sugar and sweetners but life happens, I mostly drink herbal teas, fruit tea is great it's naturally sweet I don't put anything in it and I buy brands that don't use artificial sweetners. Fruit tea can be drank cold and some are really yummy, herbal teas can take some getting used to. Also I squeeze half a lemon into (hot our cold) water it's refreshing and again naturally sweet, plus it may be helping my insides lol.

I don't know what side of the fence to sit on regarding sweetners I was against the artificial stuff bit I have heard stevia is great, think I'll just stick to avoiding it all where possible

aquamarine114

What brand and flavors of tea do you drink? I've been drinking tea every morning as a substitute for coffee and I like it much better. I really love Mighty Tea Leaf's green tea tropical flavor. It's surprisingly sweet even without sugar. Also I love Trader Joe's mango black tea. I'm just wondering what else is good. During the day I usually have low-fat milk with my cereal, a cup of tea, several cups of water and just a single sports drink or flavored water

AmandaGuele

I think it depends on the person. I'm ALWAYS craving food regardless of sweetener or no sweetener :P. Personally, I use Splenda all day every day. I use approximately two packets a day, and then I drink a lot of Lipton diet green tea (which also has aspartame). Honestly I NEED that sweetness--otherwise it's harder for me to enjoy certain meals and diet. Now, I'm no expert, and have received no nutritional education, but from personal experience alone, I don't think aspartame is that harmful. Granted it's not GOOD for you, I don't think it's downright HORRIBLE for you either. I've been intaking aspartame since middle school, and nothing's ever happened to me--as of right now, I'm healthy as a horse! My roommate who's obsessed with whole foods says otherwise, but as long as you're not over-doing it on the aspartame, I don't think it has an overall harmful effect on people, dietary or health-wise.

Fishshtick

A growing number of scientific studies link consumption of diet beverages containing artificial sweeteners to greatly increased risks of metabolic diseases (especially diabetes) and reduced longevity. Moreover, the risks skyrocket with consumption as little as one artificially sweetened beverage per day. I personally steer clear of artificial sweeteners for this reason because diabetes runs in my family and so far I have been successful in reducing my other major risk factor (being overweight). You might weigh the risks differently.

corgicake

I have my diet pop twice a week. Aside from that, my only sweet-added drinkables are the vodka lemonades (lately I've been subbing in whiskey, adds a different flavor) I like to make with agave nectar and like hell I'm using fake anything in those since my tongue will instantly know the difference.

cmeiron

I have a diet pop probably every day, and splenda in my morning coffees. I know there's sweetener of some kind in the chocolate whey I use on occasion, and in some alcoholic coolers I enjoy. I also use splenda on occasion when baking. I've never noticed any issues with these sweeteners in terms of weight loss or sugar cravings (and I have a major sweet tooth).

FearAnLoathingJ

They didn't make it hard for me to lose and keep off 55 pounds

SideSteel

Fortunately you're in an environment where you are tracking caloric intake. If non nutritive sweeteners cause you to consume more calories, you will be aware of it because you are tracking food intake.

For many people, non nutritive sweeteners provide a calorie-free way to create some satiety.

ghost15026

First, to answer your questions:
1. Sucralose is chlorinated sugar. Aspartame was initially developed as an anti-ulcer drug. Aspartame is still generally regarded as safe but sucralose is nearly 1:1 with natural sugar. Either one is fine but my choice is sucralose.
2. I would argue that artificial sweeteners helped me lose weight by reducing my cr@p habits.

Many people can relate to drinking a diet soda that contains aspartame, saccharin, sucralose, etc. Rather than focus on the studies and the problems of each sweetener just take a step back. "Healthier" is relative to where you're at in health terms. Chances are, you're no where near "perfect" health. Yes, diet soda is still very much cr@p but at least you're not dealing with the calories from a regular drink. The risk associated with any artificial sweetener is more than offset by the reduced calories. Obesity is killing/maiming us not the artificial sweeteners. A sweet tooth (habit/behavior), junk food, and the associated calories that come with this is the real enemy. Sweeteners, artificial or natural, don't correct any of this directly.

However, artificial sweeteners have a very practical use. They can be used to ween you off of natural sweeteners. Quitting many things cold-turkey is very difficult due to our established behavior. Regular soda -> Diet Soda -> Artificially sweeteners in water -> water is a far more reasonable process to control unnecessary sugar intake. An individual may have taken in some artificial sweeteners amidst this process but they will be better off in the long-run (*relatively speaking*). This is true even if an individual continues to drink diet soda for the rest of their life.

Sweeteners, natural or artificial, are generally not a good thing in the typical human diet. But let's keep in mind most choices we make are not simply "black and white". It's about choosing the lesser of the evils. So, choose your poison and make it the tasty one.

ryry_

I have read the same, but it is definitely the opposite for me. I am drinking some market pantry strawberry lemonade, sweetened with aspartame right now. Most people have much bigger fish to fry in the weight loss game.

Achrya

A growing number of scientific studies link consumption of diet beverages containing artificial sweeteners to greatly increased risks of metabolic diseases (especially diabetes) and reduced longevity. Moreover, the risks skyrocket with consumption as little as one artificially sweetened beverage per day. I personally steer clear of artificial sweeteners for this reason because diabetes runs in my family and so far I have been successful in reducing my other major risk factor (being overweight). You might weigh the risks differently.

So do you think sweeteners put people at risk for diabetes or that people who are already at risk just happen to use a lot of artificial sweeteners, perhaps as they attempt to reduce the risk factor of being overweight?

Chicken, or egg?


OP: I intake so much splenda I should really own part of the company. I feel fine, I don't binge/eat more because of it, and as far as I know it's not inhibiting my weight loss

Fishshtick

A growing number of scientific studies link consumption of diet beverages containing artificial sweeteners to greatly increased risks of metabolic diseases (especially diabetes) and reduced longevity. Moreover, the risks skyrocket with consumption as little as one artificially sweetened beverage per day. I personally steer clear of artificial sweeteners for this reason because diabetes runs in my family and so far I have been successful in reducing my other major risk factor (being overweight). You might weigh the risks differently.

So do you think sweeteners put people at risk for diabetes or that people who are already at risk just happen to use a lot of artificial sweeteners, perhaps as they attempt to reduce the risk factor of being overweight?

Chicken, or egg?

The types of studies I am talking about statistically controlled for other factors, such as body weight or BMI. These types of things sure never perfect, but with the large sample sizes involved, I think the weight of evidence is that diet beverages are as bad or worse for you than sugar sodas. Moreover, they can defeat dieting by increasing fat storage.

Here is a story from just today where researchers combined the results of 12 other studies in one analysis.

mgalsf12

There are only 15 calories in a teaspoon of sugar...why bother with artificial sweeteners? It's all about portion control.

otalip

I agree I feel much hungrier after drinking anything with artificial sweeteners the problem is I am addicted to Diet soda and diet snapple I have to have at least One a day. I tried many times to stop but I go right back. I just started Club soda (sodium free) with a whole lime juiced. As for caffeine I'll have a half a cup of coffee. But I miss my diet drinks