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Artificial sweetener tied to weight gain
Herald Sun ^ | February 11, 2008 | Reuters

Posted on 02/10/2008 9:22:11 PM PST by neverdem

USING an artificial, no-calorie sweetener rather than sugar may make it tougher, not easier, to lose weight, US researchers said today.

Scientists at Purdue University in West Lafayette, Indiana, studied rats that were fed food with the artificial sweetener saccharin and rats fed food with glucose, a natural sugar.

In comparison to rats given yogurt sweetened with glucose, those that ate yogurt sweetened with saccharin went on to consume more calories and put on more weight and body fat.

The researchers said sweet foods may prompt the body to get ready to take in a lot of calories, but when sweetness in the form of artificial sweeteners is not followed by a large amount of calories, the body gets confused, which may lead to eating more or expending less energy than normal.

"The data clearly indicate that consuming a food sweetened with no-calorie saccharin can lead to greater body-weight gain and adiposity than would consuming the same food sweetened with high-calorie sugar,'' Purdue researchers Susan Swithers and Terry Davidson wrote in the journal, Behavioural Neuroscience, published by the American Psychological Association.

"Such an outcome may seem counterintuitive, if not an anathema, to human clinical researchers and health care practitioners who have long recommended the use of low- and no-calorie sweeteners as a means of weight control.''

Other artificial sweeteners such as aspartame that also taste sweet but do not lead to the delivery of calories may have similar effects, the researchers said.

"Animals may use sweet taste to predict the caloric contents of food. Eating sweet noncaloric substances may degrade this predictive relationship,'' the researchers wrote.

"With the growing use of noncaloric sweeteners in the current food environment, millions of people are being exposed to sweet tastes that are not associated with caloric or nutritive consequences,'' the researchers added.

The...

(Excerpt) Read more at news.com.au ...


TOPICS: Business/Economy; Culture/Society; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: aspartame; calories; diabetes; glucose; health; nutrition; obesity; saccharin; sugar; sweetener
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To: Defiant

I have found since I stopped using Diet 7up my appitite has decreased a whole lot.

Had a upset tummy this morning due to NSAID patches I use for back pain and drank half a diet 7up and it increased my appitite.


41 posted on 02/11/2008 1:31:39 PM PST by Global2010 (Election 2008 like playin Shoots and Ladders (ages 5 and up))
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To: CindyDawg
I started drinking Diet Pepsi about a year ago for two reasons - I needed to lose weight and I was concerned about getting diabetes (I'm 46.)

After two years, I've noticed no weight loss that I can attribute to drinking diet soda - in fact, I may have gained a few extra pounds.

My problem is, I'm a pop junkie and I'm hooked on it. I don't want to go back to sugared soda (I can't stand the sugary taste anymore) but I just don't see anything else out there that would take its place. Flavored waters use the same diet sweetener that the sodas do and that now is the subject of many serious concerns regarding its safety.

What's a soda junkie to do?
42 posted on 02/11/2008 1:50:50 PM PST by reagan_fanatic (Another liberal will be infesting the White House. Great.)
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To: earglasses
Independent researchers say Splenda chemically resembles pesticides.

Then these "researchers" are chemicalphobes. Sucralose is made from table sugar (sucrose) by a process that substitutes three chlorine atoms for three hydroxyl groups on the sucrose molecule. The chlorine bonds won't break. The addition of chlorine to the sucralose molecule is what makes sucralose free of calories. Sucralose is an essentially inert molecule and it passes through the body without being metabolized. Chlorine in the form of chloride is a safe and natural element that is present in many of the foods and beverages that we eat and drink every day.

The manufacturer’s own studies showed that Splenda caused shrunken thymus glands and enlarged livers and kidneys in rodents.

I've heard this before but no one has ever been able to show the study. My bet is these afflictions appeared only after the animals had been fed amounts of sucralose that have no relationship to real world human consumption. Almost everything can be bad for you in unreasonable amounts. The FDA would never have approved this product if this were a genuine concern. If you stuff a lab rat with enough of anything all sorts of bad things will happen.

For an all-natural, calorie free sugar substitute that actually has nutritional benefits (better insulin regulation, etc.), try Stevia, particularly Stevia extract

] It's interesting that you would recommend a product that hasn't been approved by the FDA but that lab tests on animals have raised the possibility that it may have harmful effects on the male reproductive system.

43 posted on 02/11/2008 3:33:13 PM PST by Mase (Save me from the people who would save me from myself!)
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To: hosepipe
The sweetner is also “tied” to MS and brain cancer..

You have to wonder how that's possible when aspartame is broken down into three compounds that occur naturally in foods and beverages we consume every day. Aspartame is made up of phenylalanine which is an essential amino acid found in almost every single protein; aspartic acid, which is common in vegetables and potatoes; and methanol, which is common in fruits and red wine. How these compounds can be deadly as aspartame but totally harmless when consumed naturally in the food we eat has never been explained.

44 posted on 02/11/2008 3:38:46 PM PST by Mase (Save me from the people who would save me from myself!)
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To: Dasaji
The only reason it “passes through” is because most of our digestive systems are clogged up with mucus and gunk.

No. The reason it passes through without being metabolized is because your body doesn't recognize it as a carbohydrate. That's only possible because chlorine is added to the sucralose molecule.

45 posted on 02/11/2008 3:44:17 PM PST by Mase (Save me from the people who would save me from myself!)
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To: Fawnn
I never heard of your whey low, will try it. I think Splenda tastes very close to sugar, close enough to let me enjoy coffee, iced tea or diet soda. I lost a lot of weight about 3 years ago, and have kept it off, and one of the things I did was get rid of sugar entirely.

I know how they make it, and that it is synthetic. Their marketing is a little disingenuous, when they say it is made from sugar, from what I understand it is entirely man-made. But it works, and unless I hear that it is unhealthy, I will continue to enjoy it. I never could use nutrasweet or the pink stuff, they are both disgusting.

46 posted on 02/11/2008 3:52:36 PM PST by Defiant (The new GOP: A slow road to socialist authoritarianism. Hoorah!)
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To: reagan_fanatic
I hear you. I quit drinking regular also to drop calories. It took me about 6 weeks to get used to the nasty stuff. Didn’t drop a pound. The last two days I have been sick and weak. I had a Jr. choc shake at Wendy’s awhile ago. Within minutes my stomach was better and I felt like walking around Walmart. That tells me something. I have to get the carbs under control before this pop junkie can even think about giving up aspartame and caffeine:’)
47 posted on 02/11/2008 3:54:47 PM PST by CindyDawg
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To: reagan_fanatic
What's a soda junkie to do?

Switch to beer. :)

48 posted on 02/11/2008 3:57:07 PM PST by AFreeBird (No Romney, No Rudy, No McLame, No Huck, No Paul! Toss the GOP into the ashcan of History.)
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To: Dasaji
Why do you say that? Because you want to believe it? I see no “hoax” in the fact that GD Searle politically manipulated FDA approval for it to be used in carbonated beverages.

In college, about half of all freshman chemistry students drop out. They later become regulators and members of the food police. These same people support this kind of conspiracy nonsense.

Once aspartame is heated to over 85 degrees, it breaks down into formaldehyde and woodgrain alcohol. Searle tried to cover this up in addition to the adverse side effects (tumors, MS-like symptoms, neurological seizures) experienced by test animals.

Heat breaks down aspartame which is why it cannot be used for baking. Also, colas contain acid (phosphoric) and aspartame does not hold up well in acid solutions so the product must be fresh or aspartame will break down. Under high heat, the methanol will metabolize off the aspartic acid which causes the product to lose its sweetness. This is another reason sucralose has become so popular.

Your liver breaks down the methanol in aspartame into formaldehyde and then into formic acid. We're talking trace amounts here that any healthy liver can eliminate with ease. You do much more damage to your liver by drinking one vodka and tonic or smoking one cigarette than from consuming a diet coke. You get many times more methanol from a glass of apple juice than you will from a diet coke. Are you also claiming that apple juice causes cancer, MS and neurological seizures? I hope not.

49 posted on 02/11/2008 3:58:11 PM PST by Mase (Save me from the people who would save me from myself!)
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To: CindyDawg
Within minutes my stomach was better and I felt like walking around Walmart

now THAT'S a weird side effect!

j/k...something about that sentence just made me laugh.

;)

50 posted on 02/11/2008 4:00:05 PM PST by ZinGirl
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To: miele man
I use Splenda so am getting the best of two worlds. (or the worst according to this article)LOL (as it has sugar mixed in it)
51 posted on 02/11/2008 4:01:04 PM PST by fish hawk (The religion of Darwinism = Monkey Intellect)
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To: Global2010

Diet 7-Up has nutrasweet. I hate nutrasweet. I tried it for a few weeks when it first came out, and noticed that I felt it build up in my system. The taste was just not good enough to make you not miss sugar. I don’t miss sugar when I use splenda.


52 posted on 02/11/2008 4:03:02 PM PST by Defiant (The new GOP: A slow road to socialist authoritarianism. Hoorah!)
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To: neverdem

bttt


53 posted on 02/11/2008 4:03:42 PM PST by MattinNJ ("Conservatives" will stay home in November and hand the socialists the election. Unbelievable.)
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To: Mase
Chlorine? I was always under the impression that chlorine is not so good for ingesting. My GF uses Splenda; I've tasted it, and it "tastes" okay. But I like real foods as much as possible. Real sugar being one of them.

For the record: I eat red meat, bacon, eggs, real milk (not that watered down stuff), half and half in my coffee, and a plate of brownies (from scratch) and a gallon of whole milk is manna from heaven for me. So I do have a sweet tooth, I don't indulge it daily, but when I do, it's real sugars.

I still have a 32" waist, weigh 175 or so pounds, and am 5'10", and am in my upper 40's.

54 posted on 02/11/2008 4:12:59 PM PST by AFreeBird (No Romney, No Rudy, No McLame, No Huck, No Paul! Toss the GOP into the ashcan of History.)
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To: HamiltonJay

I didn’t express myself.
I gave up sodas and sugar drinks years ago.

I drink diet 7up.

My (new) Doc told me no more soda period. Drink herb tea for flavor.

I was given by my water guy a powder to flavor my water that does not contain any artificial or sugar.
Coffeeberry and stevia leaves in fruit flavors.
Also sachets that when added to water (20oz h2o) hydrates/eletrolytes/phbalance.

But no artificial surgars or sweetners.

Like Gatorade without flavor.
It makes water wetter.

Hope that clears it up.

And I am also on a (2yrs+) on a diabetic diet.

One test she took was my vitamen D level that is because I live in the PNW and up mostly in a nocturnal time. Vitamen D deficient can cause blood glucose issues. Can’t drink that much skim milk.
And I rarely get sun.

I was also impressed that she found a skin patch that is like Motrin (chronic back pain from injuries/fractures over the years)
Found it on her last trip to Europe.

My now ex doctor would not do anything to help me in my wellness and I asked him about patches that are non narcotic since I have a history many years ago of bleeding ulcers.

I am very happy with my new doc and her careproviding.


55 posted on 02/11/2008 4:13:53 PM PST by Global2010 (Election 2008 like playin Shoots and Ladders (ages 5 and up))
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To: AFreeBird

Hah Beer has a ph of 4.5 compared to Gatorade 2.9 and soda 2.0
Red Bull is 3.9
Distilled water 7.0

Home carb/distilled water and X20
Or

Safeway seltzer water (it has no sodium) in lemon lime flavor and put a shot of pure non concentrated juice such as orane/pomagranate/cranberry (no sugars added)


56 posted on 02/11/2008 4:23:23 PM PST by Global2010 (Election 2008 like playin Shoots and Ladders (ages 5 and up))
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To: Global2010
???
57 posted on 02/11/2008 4:27:25 PM PST by AFreeBird (No Romney, No Rudy, No McLame, No Huck, No Paul! Toss the GOP into the ashcan of History.)
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To: Defiant

The other reason I had to say buh bye to diet 7up is the carbonation.

I am getting to that age juh as a woman where in a few years the wonderful supply of estorgen will be gone.

That is when the wrinkles march in. Unless a woman puts on the hormone patch to slow it down.


58 posted on 02/11/2008 4:27:55 PM PST by Global2010 (Election 2008 like playin Shoots and Ladders (ages 5 and up))
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To: AFreeBird

Wieght means nothing bud.

What are your A1c/lipids and cholesteral levels.

I have a freind who is very tall and thin real thin and very athletic. Cholesteral way off the richter scale.

I am fat very fat and my cholesteral is perfect/A1c controlled by diet (yes I eat red bloody meat but in moderation) lipids perfect and no high blood pressure.

Not doing cardio excer the last year due to being in chronic back pain...MRI coming up next month
and being checked for Vit. D levels (live in PNW and nocturnal)


59 posted on 02/11/2008 4:33:53 PM PST by Global2010 (Election 2008 like playin Shoots and Ladders (ages 5 and up))
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To: CindyDawg
I'm drinking tea right now. I do feel better now that I'm not sucking down all that diet stuff, but I know how I am with soda, and I'll succumb to my temptations when summer gets here and start drinking Diet Pepsi again :(

Let me know if you find something you can stick with!
60 posted on 02/11/2008 4:35:59 PM PST by reagan_fanatic (Another liberal will be infesting the White House. Great.)
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