June 2, 2005 – Researchers at Laval University in Quebec were surprised to find that the consumption of aspartame, a sweetener that does not contain sugar, could cause the blood glucose levels of people with diabetes to vary during physical activity.
Annie Ferland and her team from the Faculty of Pharmacy at Laval University delivered the results of this trial as part of the Scientific Day at the Laval Hospital Research Center, which was held on May 13.
Their study involved 10 subjects with type II diabetes who participated in 60-minute ergocycle workouts. These sessions took place either on an empty stomach or two hours after eating a dish rich in sucrose (table sugar) or a dish containing more aspartame. The two meals caused a similar rise in blood sugar (sugar levels), followed by a rapid drop coinciding with the start of the exercise session. For their part, the fasting subjects did not undergo significant variations in their glycemia.
These results surprised the researchers. “Since aspartame is not a sugar and since the glycemic index of the dish containing aspartame was lower, we did not expect to cause a reaction similar to that of sucrose in our subjects,” says Annie Ferland. “The brain reacts to a meal containing aspartame as if it were sugar,” she noted.
In conventional medicine, it is usually recommended that diabetics replace sugar with a substitute such as aspartame. It is estimated that approximately 65% of diabetics adhere to this instruction.
According to Annie Ferland, these results should encourage people with diabetes “not to believe that aspartame can protect them against significant variations in blood sugar”.
Researchers do not yet know whether other sugar substitutes produce the same effect as aspartame in people with diabetes.
Pierre Lefrançois – PasseportSanté.net
According to Throughout the events (Laval University).
