Singapore

Sugar, sweeteners do not have different effects on appetite

By RJ Whitehead

- Last updated on GMT

© iStock
© iStock

Related tags Sugar

The body’s natural eating rhythms compensate for the calories reduced by using natural or artificial non-nutritive sweeteners, researchers have found after comparing the habits of people taking four different types of sweetener, including sugar.

The findings are of interest given the growing popularity of natural, plant-derived products, and the need to find out whether natural non-nutritive sweeteners are healthier than sugar or an artificial non-nutritive sweetener.

The researchers discovered that drinks containing sugar, stevia, monk fruit and aspartame could equally be consumed by a subject group of healthy young men seeking to watch their weight and manage their blood sugar levels.

In the short-term study, participants ate a standardised breakfast, and by mid-morning received one test beverage to tide them over until lunch. An hour later they were provided with a lunchtime meal and asked to eat until comfortably full. Their blood glucose and insulin concentrations were measured closely, while participants also kept a food diary of what they ate for the rest of the day.

Lead author Siew Ling Tey, of A*STAR, the Singapore government’s science agency, described the findings as "surprising​". There was no difference in the total daily energy intake across all four treatments, meaning that overall participants consumed the same number of calories during the course of a day. 

They either reduced meal intake after the sucrose-sweetened drink or ate significantly more at lunchtime and the rest of the day to compensate for the three calorie-free drink options.

The study found that although participants felt slightly hungrier when they drank non-nutritive sweetened beverages, they did not overindulge. They did, however, eat more following the non-nutritive sweeteners drinks than when they consumed the sugar sweetened drink.

"The energy 'saved' from replacing sugar with non-nutritive sweetener was fully compensated for at subsequent meals in the current study, hence no difference in total daily energy intake was found between the four treatments​," said Tey. 

"It appears that the source of non-nutritive sweeteners, whether artificial or natural, does not differ in its effects on energy intake, postprandial glucose and insulin.”

However, a recent comprehensive meta-analysis of longer-term studies has demonstrated that when non-nutritive sweeteners are consumed over time there is a sustained reduction in overall energy intake, reducing body weight.

Related topics Policy South East Asia Asian tastes

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