Do artificial sweeteners stop you losing weight?

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  • rabies
    rabies Posts: 62
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    http://health.howstuffworks.com/wellness/food-nutrition/facts/artificial-sweetners-unhealthy-eco.htm

    Here's one article from a source I generally trust. Easy read.

    Apart from the obvious (natural sweeteners has serious side effects too, but we're used to them) that article has it about right. Just doesn't answer the original question ;)
  • squiggyflop
    squiggyflop Posts: 148 Member
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    Im a heavy splenda user and my weight is coming off just fine. I tried stevia but im in the small percentage who has a bad reaction to it. I got pretty sick. I tried the powder, and even the leaf itself and I always react the same way.

    Anyway there are some people who think that they make you crave sweets more, but I have not experienced it myself. I prefer sweet beverages, but I dislike most candies, cakes, frostings, etc... so I guess my natural dislike could be clouding the results.
  • ggxx100
    ggxx100 Posts: 520 Member
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    Okay, clearly no one is going to agree on this.

    I mean, the Harvard Study is convincing, but you can't take the negative reaction of a bunch of rats and wave them around as fact for humans. For every person that has a problem losing weight while consuming artificial sweeteners, there's another who can down diet coke like there's no tomorrow and shimmy off the pounds.

    That being said, for some reason diet products and splenda made me hungry. As in..I just-swam-for-two hours hungry. Maybe knowing the fact that they're unnatural/and or don't have calories tricked my mind and body into being utterly dissatisfied..but fact of the matter is, it still seemed to affect my eating and in turn, my weight loss negatively.
  • kevinrbarger
    kevinrbarger Posts: 87 Member
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    The Harvard study with rats is inconclusive in regards to humans. Our digestive system is pretty different than a rodent's.

    There has been nothing conclusive about artificial sweeteners at all in regards to weight loss. Personally, I think they're fine for most people. They do have side effects for some, though. For instance, I know that if I have too much aspartame it could trigger a migraine and/or a panic attack. Other artificial sweeteners do not do this to me.

    But, yeah, go ahead with your artificially sweetened self! I highly, highly doubt that it's going to do much if any damage to your weight loss at all. The only thing, really, that could stop you from losing weight is a high caloric intake.

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