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> Artificial sweeteners still make you crave sweets. How do you know that this is true?

KozmoNau7 5y ago
Frequent exposure to sweetness makes your taste receptors accustomed to it, like building up a tolerance. It's obvious by a simple experiment: cut out everything sweet (at the very least candy, sweets and desserts) for a couple of weeks, then try eating a candy bar or a thickly-frosted cupcake. It will taste almost unbearably sweet. Make sweets something you only enjoy as a rare treat, and you'll find that you'll eat much less of them, because the sweetness will simply be too much.
tolleydbg 5y ago
I think there is evidence that this is true for some sweeteners, such as Ace K, but I don't think this is the case with aspartame.
- enchiridion 5y ago
  Anecdotally people who do keto have documented increased insulin levels from artificial sweeteners.
  - naasking 5y ago
    I believe that's true, that you'll see an insulin response from anything that tastes sweet, but that doesn't automatically entail that you'll crave sweet.
    - ncmncm 5y ago
      An insulin increase without carb intake results in lowered blood sugar, thus hunger. This is the simplest sort of biochemistry.
      - naasking 5y ago
        You haven't quantified the magnitude of the insulin response just from tasting something sweet, which is relevant to how much of an impact it will have on behavior, nor does a lowered blood sugar necessarily entail you crave sweets. Simple biochemistry does not capture human behaviour.
        ncmncm 5y ago
        Insulin response to sweets is probably subject to operant conditioning, so path dependent.
viseztrance 5y ago
I question the same thing, and would like to know how accurate it is. Is there any peer reviewed literature that supports this?
nicoburns 5y ago
I've read that sweeteners still affect insulin levels even though they're not metabolised.
- Someone1234 5y ago
  Aspartame does not increase insulin levels. People have heard that Sucralose does and group all artificial sweeteners together.
  - Supermancho 5y ago
    > The sweet taste of artificial sweeteners triggers cephalic phase insulin release, causing a small rise in insulin levels. I'm gonna bet it does. Even our autonomic systems are pavlovian in conjunction, for good reason evolutionarily (hyper efficiency somewhere in the past).
    - Someone1234 5y ago
      You can bet whatever you wish, insulin levels are quantifiable. Studies have looked at exactly this question and have been unable to show an increase with Aspartame specifically. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/29982723/ https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/29982723/
      - Supermancho 5y ago
        In diabetic adults aspartame does (and probably stevia, sucralose in everyone iirc), which is only a subset of sweeteners. More than that, the studies are being done regarding apparent insulin resistance developed by the guy bacteria after prolonged usage, which causes the body to have to produce more. So it does sometimes and usually, depending on composition. I'll double down on that. Good luck with whatever.
        noptd 5y ago
        >In diabetic adults aspartame does Since you're stating this definitively in a response to Someone posting evidence debunking your previous claim, can you link a study backing it up?
slumdev 5y ago
Artificial sweeteners, from the time that they enter your mouth and encounter your taste buds, cause the release of insulin. This insulin lowers your blood sugar. Because artificial sweeteners provide only the sensation of sweetness and not the energy content of an actual sugar, your blood sugar falls low enough that your unconscious brain is compelled to eat. People who drink diet soda consistently eat more calories than they would have eaten if they had drunk a regular soda--even if you include the calories from the soda.
- davidcbc 5y ago
  Studies have not shown any link between aspartame and insulin levels. Artificial sweeteners have shown an increase in blood sugar over long periods of time in mice, but not humans. Studies haven't found a causal relationship between diet soda and weight gain. https://www.healthline.com/nutrition/artificial-sweeteners-blood-sugar-insulin https://www.healthline.com/nutrition/artificial-sweeteners-b... https://www.webmd.com/diet/features/diet-sodas-and-weight-gain-not-so-fast https://www.webmd.com/diet/features/diet-sodas-and-weight-ga...

Frequent exposure to sweetness makes your taste receptors accustomed to it, like building up a tolerance. It's obvious by a simple experiment: cut out everything sweet (at the very least candy, sweets and desserts) for a couple of weeks, then try eating a candy bar or a thickly-frosted cupcake. It will taste almost unbearably sweet. Make sweets something you only enjoy as a rare treat, and you'll find that you'll eat much less of them, because the sweetness will simply be too much.

tolleydbg 5y ago

I think there is evidence that this is true for some sweeteners, such as Ace K, but I don't think this is the case with aspartame.

enchiridion 5y ago
Anecdotally people who do keto have documented increased insulin levels from artificial sweeteners.
- naasking 5y ago
  I believe that's true, that you'll see an insulin response from anything that tastes sweet, but that doesn't automatically entail that you'll crave sweet.
  - ncmncm 5y ago
    An insulin increase without carb intake results in lowered blood sugar, thus hunger. This is the simplest sort of biochemistry.
    - naasking 5y ago
      You haven't quantified the magnitude of the insulin response just from tasting something sweet, which is relevant to how much of an impact it will have on behavior, nor does a lowered blood sugar necessarily entail you crave sweets. Simple biochemistry does not capture human behaviour.
      - ncmncm 5y ago
        Insulin response to sweets is probably subject to operant conditioning, so path dependent.

viseztrance 5y ago

I question the same thing, and would like to know how accurate it is. Is there any peer reviewed literature that supports this?

nicoburns 5y ago

I've read that sweeteners still affect insulin levels even though they're not metabolised.

Someone1234 5y ago
Aspartame does not increase insulin levels. People have heard that Sucralose does and group all artificial sweeteners together.
- Supermancho 5y ago
  > The sweet taste of artificial sweeteners triggers cephalic phase insulin release, causing a small rise in insulin levels. I'm gonna bet it does. Even our autonomic systems are pavlovian in conjunction, for good reason evolutionarily (hyper efficiency somewhere in the past).
  - Someone1234 5y ago
    You can bet whatever you wish, insulin levels are quantifiable. Studies have looked at exactly this question and have been unable to show an increase with Aspartame specifically. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/29982723/ https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/29982723/
    - Supermancho 5y ago
      In diabetic adults aspartame does (and probably stevia, sucralose in everyone iirc), which is only a subset of sweeteners. More than that, the studies are being done regarding apparent insulin resistance developed by the guy bacteria after prolonged usage, which causes the body to have to produce more. So it does sometimes and usually, depending on composition. I'll double down on that. Good luck with whatever.
      - noptd 5y ago
        >In diabetic adults aspartame does Since you're stating this definitively in a response to Someone posting evidence debunking your previous claim, can you link a study backing it up?

slumdev 5y ago

Artificial sweeteners, from the time that they enter your mouth and encounter your taste buds, cause the release of insulin. This insulin lowers your blood sugar. Because artificial sweeteners provide only the sensation of sweetness and not the energy content of an actual sugar, your blood sugar falls low enough that your unconscious brain is compelled to eat. People who drink diet soda consistently eat more calories than they would have eaten if they had drunk a regular soda--even if you include the calories from the soda.

davidcbc 5y ago
Studies have not shown any link between aspartame and insulin levels. Artificial sweeteners have shown an increase in blood sugar over long periods of time in mice, but not humans. Studies haven't found a causal relationship between diet soda and weight gain. https://www.healthline.com/nutrition/artificial-sweeteners-blood-sugar-insulin https://www.healthline.com/nutrition/artificial-sweeteners-b... https://www.webmd.com/diet/features/diet-sodas-and-weight-gain-not-so-fast https://www.webmd.com/diet/features/diet-sodas-and-weight-ga...