Replacing sugar with sweeteners, a bad good idea? Yes, according to the results of a study published in the medical journal Nature Neuroscience. Because they would not prevent sugar cravings and would not reduce the risk ofobesity or of diabetes. Conclusions obtained on mice.
Researchers at the University of Lausanne in Switzerland have discovered a new group of neurons in mice responsible for eating behavior and sugar absorption.
The human brain uses glucose as its main source of energy, which led it to develop high-performance mechanisms for detecting this sugar. “These mechanisms control, on the one hand, blood glucose levels and, on the other hand, eating behavior to promote the search for and ingestion of foods that contain glucose”, recall the authors of the study. “Dyregulation of these mechanisms can lead toobesity and at diabetesin particular by promoting an overconsumption of sugary foods”.
Scientists have observed that this group of neurons is activated by a decrease in blood glucose and in turn stimulates the search for high-calorie sweet foods.
“Our research shows that these neurons, when activated by the lack of glucose, interact with the reward system to increase the motivation of animals to seek out and ingest sugar”, explains Gwenaël Labouèbe, research manager and author of the study.
Sweeteners would have no effect on the regulation of sugar consumption
The findings of the study also showed that the activity of these neurons is suppressed by the uptake of glucose, but not by that ofsweeteners or fructose, which maintains the need to ingest sugar.
“These results show the complexity of the mechanisms controlling the search for and ingestion of sweet foods. They also highlight the fact that sweeteners or fructose, two elements added massively in industrial foods, cannot suppress the desire to consume foods containing sugar. These discoveries should be compared with the observation that the introduction of sweetened foods has unfortunately not made it possible to reduce the epidemic ofobesity which prevails in all industrialized countries”, concludes Professor Bernard Thorens, director of the study.
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