New Study on Artificial Sweetener: Do they Help you Lose Weight
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ABC NEWS– New research shows that artificial sweetener may not help you in the fight against losing weight.
Consuming too much sugar, we know, is linked to obesity, high blood pressure and diabetes. And people who are watching their weight may choose artificial sweeteners to fight back — products like aspartame, sucralose and steviocide (brand names: Equal, Splenda and Stevia, respectively).
But a new analysis of studies in The Canadian Medical Association Journal looked at the long-term heart health, weight, stroke incidence and blood pressure levels of more than 406,000 people who said they use artificial sweeteners in place of sugar and found that the effects weren’t on the positive side.
“We found that consumption of nonnutritive sweeteners was associated with modest long-term weight gain in observational studies,” the study authors found. “Our results also extend previous meta-analyses that showed higher risks of Type 2 diabetes and hypertension with regular consumption.”
The 30 studies that they reviewed followed groups of people using artificial sweeteners — such as aspartame, sucralose and steviocide — and included longer, larger studies with follow-ups every four to nine years. The researchers found that people who routinely used artificial sweeteners gained weight and had higher risks of obesity, high blood pressure and stroke.
Over 10 years, increases in weight and body mass index, or BMI, were modest.
Those those looking for weight loss help in the short term did not appear to benefit either. People in the seven shorter randomized, controlled studies reviewed in the analysis did not show any consistent weight loss after six months.
ABC News’ chief women’s health correspondent, Dr. Jennifer Ashton, explained that any sweetener can trigger the same response from the brain, which could contribute to the long-term issues found in this study.
