A new study shows that using artificial sweeteners as substitute for real sugars to lose weight is not an effective means to meet the goal. Researchers found that the brain is smart enough to detect that it is not real sugar and will only increase sugar cravings within the day.
There is an ongoing debate of whether sugar substitutes or artificial sweeteners are healthy alternatives to real sugars. Some even believe that since it is low in calories, it may help people lose weight and control diabetes that is why we have diet sodas in the market. Artificial sweeteners are so much sweeter than sugars and contain zero to four calories only per gram. However, there were earlier studies associating artificial sweeteners to heart disease and even cancer.
Ivan de Araujo, lead author of the study from Yale University School of Medicine, and his colleagues began a study to test one of the questioned benefits of artificial sweetener—weight loss. They conducted a test to a group of mice and analyzed how its brain responded to the presence of artificial sweeteners and sugars.
Researchers also monitored dopamine, a brain chemical that affects our emotions, movements and feelings of pleasure and pain. It is also associated with motivation and reward.
"According to the data, when we apply substances that interfere with a critical step of the 'sugar-to-energy pathway', the interest of the animals in consuming artificial sweetener decreases significantly, along with important reductions in brain dopamine levels," said de Araujo in a news release.
"This is verified by the fact that when hungry mice - who thus have low sugar levels - are given a choice between artificial sweeteners and sugars, they are more likely to completely switch their preferences towards sugars even if the artificial sweetener is much sweeter than the sugar solution," he added.
The mice experienced a reduction in energy during the test which made them prefer to choose real sugars after consuming artificial sweeteners. Researchers believe that it is a normal brain reaction to pick foods with sugar to restore the body's normal function.
One cannot trick the brain indeed but researchers suggest an alternative—a happy medium.
"The results suggest that a 'happy medium' could be a solution; combining sweeteners with minimal amounts of sugar so that energy metabolism doesn't drop, while caloric intake is kept to a minimum," Araujo said.
The study was published in The Journal of Physiology.
