Sweeteners don’t make you hungrier than normal sugar, new research suggests.
- Sweeteners are food additives used to give a sweet taste to foods and drinks such as desserts, dairy products, candies and chewing gum.
- Stevia and Neotam do not increase appetite, according to a new study.
- This discovery is interesting for people who are overweight and/or diabetic.
New data from a randomized trial indicate that sweeteners may be beneficial for people who are overweight and/or diabetic.
Published in The Lancetthe new trial took place at the University of Leeds and a French research center (CRNH-RA) between 2021 and 2022.
The participants were all aged 18 to 60 and were overweight or obese.
Appetite: two sweeteners tested
The researchers conducted their investigation over three two-week consumption periods, during which participants consumed cookies containing either a fruit filling, a natural sweetener (stevia), or an artificial sweetener (neotame). Each period of ingestion of the biscuits was separated by a break of 14 to 21 days.
At the end of the experiment, the participants were invited to come to the laboratory after an overnight fast. A blood sample was taken from them to establish their glucose, insulin and hormone levels. They were also asked to rate their appetite and food preferences.
The results obtained with the two types of sweeteners did not show differences in appetite or endocrine responses compared to sugar. In contrast, insulin levels were reduced following taking stevia and neotame, as were blood sugar levels.
Professor Anne Raben, from the University of Copenhagen (Denmark), said: “Our results show that sweeteners are a useful tool for reducing added sugar consumption without causing a compensatory increase in appetite.”
“The use of sweeteners has received a lot of negative attention, including in high-profile publications that link their consumption to impaired blood sugar response, toxicological DNA damage, and increased risk heart attack and stroke”, also recalls the director of the study, Graham Finlayson.
Appetite: what are sweeteners for?
Sweeteners are food additives used to give a sweet taste to foods and drinks such as desserts, dairy products, candies and chewing gum.
“Certain sweeteners such as aspartame or sucralose have a much greater sweetening power than sugar,” precise the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA).
“Sweeteners can be produced in a variety of ways, including extraction from plants (e.g., steviol glycosides or thaumatin) or other plant-derived materials (e.g., citrus-derived neohesperidin DC),” terminates the institution.
