Study: Fake Sweeteners Boost Rats' Eating

AP / My Way ^ | Jul 8, 2004 | RICK CALLAHAN

[tdadams]

Maybe this explains why everyone I see drinking Diet Coke is such a lard@ss.

[NCjim]

For a moment I thought this was another Kerry/Edwards article...

[EEDUDE]

Well, as to whether or not the hypothesis is correct, I don't know.

But it has been known for years that aspartame DOES cause a release of insulin.

I have often wondered what the up and down bounce of blood sugar levels due to this extra insulin does to the body's ability to maintain blood sugar levels.

Any comments?

[TX Bluebonnet]

When I quit regular sodas, I switched to unsweetened tea with lemon. Everyone kept suggesting their favorite diet (artificially sweetened) drink. Why trade one bad habit for another??

[Laura Earl]

I told you that Diet Coke would make the rats fat!

[Conspiracy Guy]

I told you!

[ravingnutter]

When I quit regular sodas, I switched to unsweetened tea with lemon. Everyone kept suggesting their favorite diet (artificially sweetened) drink. Why trade one bad habit for another??

My system cannot tolerate processed sugar, so I have been drinking unsweet tea for years, it is something you just get used to. It has gotten to the point that I can't stand to eat or drink anything sweet anymore, it makes me nauseated. No lemon for me though, can't stand the stuff...I got sick in high school because everyone was using that nasty lemon perfume in class when it was popular, haven't been able to tolerate the smell since (yikes...telling my age). Being in Texas, I have a problem with restaurants that only serve sweet tea, it just irritates me to no end!

[ravingnutter]

P.S. Another irritant is Nestea...that crap is NOT tea!!! : )

[Laura Earl]

Well now we've got a bunch of fat rats...what should we do...Atkins?

[Mr. Jeeves]

Maybe this explains why everyone I see drinking Diet Coke is such a lard@ss.

I think that's because they feel that since they have "been good" by sticking to Diet Coke, they can go ahead and have three pieces of chocolate cake.

[Conspiracy Guy]

Naw just give them some disease caused by labs.

[Laura Earl]

Labs cause disease?

[E. Pluribus Unum]

One researcher called the rat study nonsense.

One (Monsanto) researcher called the rat study nonsense.

[southernnorthcarolina]

This comes as no surprise to me. Next time you're in the grocery store, take note of the people who buy mass quantities of soft drinks (several 2-liter bottles, or several 6-packs, or whatever); it seems to make no difference whether the drinks in question are sweetened with sugar, high-fructose corn syrup, or artificial sweeteners -- odds are, the buyer is fat.

Or go to a Wendy's at lunch, and you'll see calorically challenged folks having what they think is a "diet" lunch: a huge sugar-free soda, and a salad. Never mind that the salad is mounded with cheddar cheese, hard boiled eggs, ham, and bacon, and is topped with a half cup of blue cheese dressing -- it's a salad, isn't it? And therefore good for you.

The capacity many of us have to delude ourselves is infinite.

[Conspiracy Guy]

Laboratories

[kevkrom]

Maybe this explains why everyone I see drinking Diet Coke is such a lard@ss.

Oddly enough, just about everyone I've ever met who was on a diet was overweight, too. Diets must make you fat!

Or maybe, perhaps, we can realize the difference between a correlation and causality?

[trisham]

Labs cause disease?

************

No, Labs don't, but Chihuahuas do.

[kevkrom]

Never mind that the salad is mounded with cheddar cheese, hard boiled eggs, ham, and bacon, and is topped with a half cup of blue cheese dressing -- it's a salad, isn't it?

Sounds like a perfect meal on Atkins to me. (Though a half-cup of dressing is overkill.)