Posted on 08/30/2009 9:10:21 AM PDT by Ernest_at_the_Beach
As the palette of artificial sweeteners has grown and manufacturers have honed the skill with which they blend them to mimic sugar taste, debate has swirled around whether these sensory stand-ins really help people consume fewer calories and avoid weight gain.
New research adds another dimension to the uncertainty: It suggests that even when artificial sweeteners fool the taste buds, they still don't fool the ultimate arbiter of our appetites -- our subconscious brains.
The latest evidence for this comes from a brain scanning study performed in the Netherlands. Paul Smeets, a neuroscientist at University Medical Center Utrecht, used a technique called functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to measure brain responses in people sipping two versions of orangeade, one containing sugar and one containing a mix of four artificial sweeteners: aspartame, acesulfame K, cyclamate and saccharin.
The mixture of artificial sweeteners was concocted to match the taste of real sugar as closely as possible. And the sugary and artificial drinks were administered on different days -- making it harder for the tasters to notice any difference between the two. Subjects often guessed wrong on which drink was which. "They didn't know," Smeets says.
Yet the fMRI scans revealed consistent differences in how their brains responded.
(Excerpt) Read more at latimes.com ...
There is mention of the unpleasant taste...mentions it works ok with citrus drinks...see info I posted from Wikipedia,....
Where do you find the stuff?
I mainly use Splenda, if only because I can get a good dealon bulk packages at Costco.
A couple of months ago someone turned me on to Truvia. For me it has absolutely no aftertaste. I only use Truvia when I'm craving something sweet. I'll take a packet, wet my finger and get it coated with Truvia and lick the Truvia off my finger. Doing that with just 1 packet of Truvia is enough to kill that craving for something sweet.
If it's not a word, it should be...
I like it.
Oh, I love that sugar free coffee flavoring. Have recently gotten some of the caramel kind for variety. It also mixes well with mint tea.
Cool, that truvia looks interesting. Will give it a shot.
As are many Poisons, including sugar, so what's your point?
Very much like the old Saccharine, so just use it, much cheaper.
Organic is the rage....
I still think our bodies have set points and fight us tooth and nail when we try to alter our weight. There is a great book on the subject (although somewhat discouraging to those of us trying to lose weight - The Dieter’s Dilemma: Eating Less and Weighing More. It’s out of print now, but it may be in your local libraray, or you can get it on the cheap at amazon.
bump
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