More about non-nutritive sweeteners

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These just-released study results from Purdue are interesting in light of the recent discussion about non-sugar sweeteners. Also interesting that the "non-nutritive sweetener"they tested was saccharinen______________________More weight gain from saccharine than from glucose...Consuming beverages sweetened with non-nutritive sweeteners may lead to an increase in food consumption, and contribute to weight gain, says a new study from Purdue University. Studies with rats showed that animals the consumption of foods or fluids containing non-nutritive sweeteners was associated with increases in food intake, body weight gain, and body fat accumulation, compared to consumption of foods and fluids sweetened with glucose. Swithers, , and Terry son from Purdue University’s Department of Psychological Sciences report their findings in the journal Physiology & Behavior. “The research reported here provides an answer to the question ‘Can consuming non-nutritively-sweetened foods or fluids promote increased energy intake and body weight gain compared to sugar-sweetened foods and fluids?’†wrote the researchers. “In principle, the answer clearly seems to be yes.†Of mice and men Commenting on whether their results with rats are applicable to the “much more complex and uncontrolled human food environmentâ€, the researchers noted that it was “plausible, if not probableâ€, that both humans and animals relate sensory properties of food to the nutritive payload after eating in order to maintain energy levels. Energy regulation may also be disrupted when sweetened foods do not translate into calories, they said. “Thus, it is conceivable that just as exposure to non-predictive sweet taste-calorie relationships in the laboratory promotes increased intake, body weight and body adiposity in rats, the widespread use of non-caloric sweeteners by humans outside of the laboratory may have similar effects on the predictive validity of sweet tastes and ultimately on the ability of humans to control their intake and body weight,†said the researchers. Extensive use The study once again focuses attention on the use of sweeteners in foods and beverages. The use of sweeteners in food and beverage products is widespread and has gathered yet more pace as food firms seek to deliver healthier products, with less sugar, to consumers. According to Leatherhead International, the global market for sweeteners was worth US$1.83bn in 2007. Although all the sweeteners used in foods have been approved and are deemed safe by the food safety authorities, internet forums, newspaper reports and some scientific literature continue to garner suspicion. The new study looked at the effects of saccharin, the most extensively used sweetener in the world, when fed to rats in yoghurt. Two groups of animals were used: Both groups received 30 g of plain unsweetened yogurt providing 0.6 kcal per gram on some days and 30 g of either a yogurt sweetened with 20 per cent glucose, providing 1.2 kcal per gram, or a yogurt sweetened with 0.3 per cent saccharin on the other days, for five weeks. Results showed that animals in the saccharin group consumed an average of about 50 calories per week more, gained about 10 grams more weight, and had significantly higher body fat levels, compared to the rats in the glucose group. “Our research provided evidence consistent with the hypothesis that these effects of consuming saccharin may be associated with a decrement in the ability of sweet taste to evoke thermic responses, and perhaps other physiological, cephalic phase, reflexes that are thought to help maintain energy balance,†wrote the researchers. “Thus, the claim that there is no viable mechanistic explanation of how intake of non-nutritive sweeteners could promote weight gain can be repudiated,†they concluded. Source: Physiology & BehaviorPublished online, doi: 10.1016/j.physbeh.2009.12.021 “High-intensity sweeteners and energy balanceâ€Authors: S.E. Swithers, A.A. , T.L. son-- Now available. A fine gift for cat lovers:Confessions of a Cataholic: My Life With the 10 Cats Who Caused My Addictionby n Van Tilwww.wordpowerpublishing.com ; signed copies; free shipping in U.S., reduced shipping elsewhere