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Could artificial sweeteners make people more hungry?

14/07/2016

Could artificial sweeteners make people more hungry?Tests in fruit flies and mice have shown that artificial sweeteners activate hunger pathways, which boost appetite and send the body into "feed me" mode.

Reporting their findings in the journal Cell Metabolism, the Australian researchers said that more work is needed to see if the same is true in humans, and whether the billions of people who consume sugar substitutes experience similar reactions.

For the study, the researchers looked at how the brain signals of the insects and rodents changed as what they were fed was restricted. Some fruit flies and mice were given a diet containing natural sugars, while others ate the same, but with added low-calorie artificial sweeteners.

The researchers found that the brains of the subjects consuming the sugar substitutes compensated whenever sweetness and energy was out of balance by sending signals in a bid to boost calorie consumption. The result was that when given the chance, the insects and rodents ate more.

Researcher Professor Greg Neely, from the University of Sydney, said: "When we investigated why animals were eating more even though they had enough calories, we found that chronic consumption of this artificial sweetener actually increases the sweet intensity of real nutritive sugar, and this then increases the animal's overall motivation to eat more food."

However, UK nutritionists have said that the same is not necessarily true in humans and that low-calorie sweetened foods are better for people's teeth than sugar and can help keep weight off. The researchers have also agreed that more investigations are needed to see whether similar effects are seen in humans.
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