Artificial sweeteners and insulin

emmab0902
emmab0902 Posts: 2,338 Member
edited October 4 in Health and Weight Loss
I should probably engage google before I ask this but....

Have heard people say that consuming drinks and foods containing artificial sweeteners can create an insulin response as the brain registers the sweet taste and the body responds as if it was sugar.

However, my question is..... if there is no actual sugar/carbs circulating eg in diet soda, surely nothing can be stored?? So the position that artificial sweeteners can make you gain weight can't be true can it??

Replies

  • alyssamiller77
    alyssamiller77 Posts: 891 Member
    The truth is every study that found any weight gain associated with artificial sweetners concluded that the weight gain was either a result of people feeling they could eat more because they had a diet drink or people craving more sweetness as a result of the artificial sweetners. I've yet to read a single study that stated an artificial sweetner directly caused weight/fat gain.
  • ashleyxnicole89
    ashleyxnicole89 Posts: 38 Member
    I don't know too much about this. But I do know that the body is not made to breakdown processed foods, or chemicals. Which Diet sodas are full of chemicals and artificial everything. So if the body is confused or can't break it down, it may store it. In my opinion you're better off accepting the calories in a regular soda, or not drinking it at all.
  • recesq
    recesq Posts: 154 Member
    It's all about the insulin. No, an artificial sweetener has no carbs or sugar to directly add calories. But the sweet taste in your mouth does in fact tell your brain to send the insulin out. This is what causes the body to stop burning fat and to start storing it. So no, it doesn't DIRECTLY stall weight loss or cause weight gain, but it does set in motion the culprit that does. Test it yourself.
    Go a week with nothing that tastes sweet and consume no carbs or artificial sweeteners and see what happens.
  • Acg67
    Acg67 Posts: 12,142 Member
    FYI: things like splenda actually do have carbs and calories but are under the threshold to have to state their cho and calorie amounts
  • ashleyxnicole89
    ashleyxnicole89 Posts: 38 Member
    http://www.mcvitamins.com/Health Opponents/processed_foods.htm

    http://www.medicinenet.com/artificial_sweeteners/page9.htm
  • butterfly3212
    butterfly3212 Posts: 5 Member
    Being diabetic myself u also have to watch sodium as well cuz that also makes sugar u can add me on here and i can explain more
  • nanodot
    nanodot Posts: 154 Member
    Here is a good article on the subject.

    http://www.marksdailyapple.com/artificial-sweeteners-insulin/

    The summary is that a couple of sweeteners may have a slight insulin-raising effect, and other sweeteners do not.
  • hoppinglark
    hoppinglark Posts: 213 Member
    http://www.mcvitamins.com/Health Opponents/processed_foods.htm

    http://www.medicinenet.com/artificial_sweeteners/page9.htm

    The article about processed foods is okay, but what does that have to do with artificial sweeteners?

    The medicinenet article seems like it was written by someone who knows nothing of human physiology, they talk about how -
    --"Chlorine is considered a carcinogen and has been used in poisonous gas, disinfectants, pesticides, and plastics"--
    But it's just and element, as in, half of the formula of table salt, and if you didn't have any in your body you'd die, because you have to have Chloride ions.
  • emmab0902
    emmab0902 Posts: 2,338 Member
    I still don't buy that you can store fat outside of a caloric excess just by consuming artificial sweeteners. Doesn't make scientific sense.
  • recesq
    recesq Posts: 154 Member
    Well first you have to read the actual science. If it were just about calories you could eat 1200 calories of Twinkies a day and be thin, could you not?
  • GeauxDonielle
    GeauxDonielle Posts: 145 Member
    It's true about your Body responding as if it were sugar- so it produces insulin to process the "sugar" but there isn't any sugar to be processed so it leads to a high insulin level and a drop in glucose then you crave more and more likely to eat junk to bring your glucose back up. This can also lead you into insulin resistance. Which is no good. Go real and keep it low and in moderation. If you have to have artificial sweeteners use with caution ;) truvia and splenda are natural sweeteners. Try raw sugars. Honey
  • maidentl
    maidentl Posts: 3,203 Member
    Well first you have to read the actual science. If it were just about calories you could eat 1200 calories of Twinkies a day and be thin, could you not?

    Yep, and someone has done it.

    http://www.cnn.com/2010/HEALTH/11/08/twinkie.diet.professor/index.html
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