Artificial sweeteners don't help people lose weight. New Study?

The_Enginerd

grinning_chick wrote: »

The_Enginerd wrote: »

The placebo effect is seen even when people are informed they are taking a placebo.

http://www.health.harvard.edu/blog/placebo-can-work-even-know-placebo-201607079926

Right off the bat what I noticed in the linked commentary is the huge assumption participants not only knew, but fully comprehended, what a placebo is when told they were being given one. Never assume a layperson understands the same as you do (as an educated scientist) what the medical terminology means. One of the first things I learned post-grad.

I found the actual study, and it seems they accounted for that.

http://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0015591#s2

Before randomization and during the screening, the placebo pills were truthfully described as inert or inactive pills, like sugar pills, without any medication in it. Additionally, patients were told that “placebo pills, something like sugar pills, have been shown in rigorous clinical testing to produce significant mind-body self-healing processes.”

What if the participants were told they were receiving a placebo but also told it would do nothing, or possibly worsen symptoms? I would expect the information that they are receiving a placebo, but that it would have an effect due to the mind/body connection, to significantly alter the results.

JustRobby1

grinning_chick wrote: »

The_Enginerd wrote: »

The placebo effect is seen even when people are informed they are taking a placebo.

http://www.health.harvard.edu/blog/placebo-can-work-even-know-placebo-201607079926

Right off the bat what I noticed in the linked commentary is the huge assumption participants not only knew, but fully comprehended, what a placebo is when told they were being given one. Never assume a layperson understands the same as you do (as an educated scientist) what the medical terminology means. One of the first things I learned post-grad.

While I would certianly agree with this, and I have a number of problems with how this research was conducted (the red flags were a flying as I was reading the paper), it does indeed appear that the researchers practiced due diligence in this regard.

"....The PI explained that the placebo pill was an inactive substance, like a flour pill, that contained no active medication in it. After informed consent, all participants were asked if they had heard of the “placebo effect” and explained in an approximately 15-minute a priori script, adopted from an earlier OLP study"

Full Text Here: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5113234/

Is it possible some of the participants were too inept to understand this? Maybe, but it is almost one of those situations that would be hard to discern unless you and I were actually there in the room with them as they were conducting the interviews.

zcb94

I agree with this:

the sweet taste paired with no calories may confuse the body and change how it handles real sugar

This has certainly rung true for me, as has the opposite. Splenda raises my blood sugar more than it probably should.