Remember the old diet advice about cutting calories by switching from regular soda to diet soda? According to recent research, that switch may not be as beneficial as we once thought, and it may actually be worse for your waistline. Researchers at Purdue University found that rats that were fed yogurt with artificial sweeteners ate more and gained more weight than rats that were fed yogurt with sugar. Scientists suspect that artificial sweeteners may trigger the brain and digestive system to expect calories and sugar, and when they never come, your body has a hard time regulating appetite when you eat other foods. This may lead to weight gain and increased body fat.
Further research into artificial sweeteners' effects on humans is needed, but since it might mess with your metabolism, it's a good idea to limit your consumption in the meantime. Instead of drinking diet drinks throughout the day, try drinking water or tea to re-hydrate, and use artificially sweetened drinks sparingly. Luckily, the dieting advice about artificially sweetened or fat-free desserts is useful in avoiding the sweeteners, too - it's better to have a smaller portion of the full fat and sugar version of dessert than to have a larger, unsatisfying version of the diet kind.
Remember the old diet advice about cutting calories by switching from regular soda to diet soda? According to recent research, that switch may not be as beneficial as we once thought, and it may actually be worse for your waistline. Researchers at Purdue University found that rats that were fed yogurt with artificial sweeteners ate more and gained more weight than rats that were fed yogurt with sugar. Scientists suspect that artificial sweeteners may trigger the brain and digestive system to expect calories and sugar, and when they never come, your body has a hard time regulating appetite when you eat other foods. This may lead to weight gain and increased body fat.
Further research into artificial sweeteners' effects on humans is needed, but since it might mess with your metabolism, it's a good idea to limit your consumption in the meantime. Instead of drinking diet drinks throughout the day, try drinking water or tea to re-hydrate, and use artificially sweetened drinks sparingly. Luckily, the dieting advice about artificially sweetened or fat-free desserts is useful in avoiding the sweeteners, too - it's better to have a smaller portion of the full fat and sugar version of dessert than to have a larger, unsatisfying version of the diet kind.