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>artificial sweeteners stimulate appetite and promote weight gain Just like all studies seeking to link artificial sweeteners to weight gain, it's a correlatio

>artificial sweeteners stimulate appetite and promote weight gain Just like all studies seeking to link artificial sweeteners to weight gain, it's a correlational argument that is not specific to artificial sweeteners. The "neurobiology of food reward" is the exact same for sugar and artificial sweeteners unless you happen to be purposefully depriving yourself of calories, in which case the sweetener cannot be blamed. The heart of the problem is psychosocial, not biochemical. Overweight people are more likely to choose reduced calorie foods than people who are not overweight. There is also such a thing as cognitive bias. People who are overweight and/or trying to lose weight will often end up using their exercise and calorie reductions as "credits" toward food choices (e.g., 'Since I'm having a Diet Soda, it's OK if I get the Extra Large fries because the calories cancel out') and don't actually end up burning more calories than they take in. If you could demonstrate in controlled conditions that (ideally more than 13[1]) people who eat and exercise in moderation suddenly start gaining weight when artificial sweeteners are added to their diet (or losing weight when they are removed), it might be an interesting finding. >Aspartame and depression [1] - "Despite the small n" ... possibly the understatement of the century. >SURVEY OF ASPARTAME STUDIES If anyone has actual evidence of failure to disclose a conflict of interest in a published study, then it should be reported to the relevant institutions, not used as a platform to denounce all research on a topic.

trhway 12y ago
>The "neurobiology of food reward" is the exact same for sugar and artificial sweeteners i beg your pardon. With sugar you're pretty much getting the glucose injection into bloodstream, all the energy producing machinery starts working and you get the feeling of your body being fed. There is no such blood-glucose level feedback in case of artificial sweeteners. So whatever havoc they wreck, i stay out of it :)
- dbbolton 12y ago
  Let me reiterate my point about eating and exercising in moderation. I said when you are not deprived of calories, meaning that if you still maintain adequate food intake throughout the day, there is no deleterious effect from the sweetener. Yes, if you drink nothing but diet soda all day and then eat a giant meal right before bed, that is probably not a healthy dietary cycle. But again, you can hardly blame that on the sweetener itself. In reality, I'm not sure this happens all that often. What's more common is reports of "sugar cravings" that increase with consumption of artificial sweeteners. It seems to vary from person to person, but obviously if that happens to you then you would be a fool to continue consuming them.
fnordfnordfnord 12y ago
>If you could demonstrate in controlled conditions that (ideally more than 13[1]) people who eat and exercise in moderation suddenly start gaining weight when artificial sweeteners are added to their diet (or losing weight when they are removed), it might be an interesting finding. I'm not into psych/medical research, but even in the hard sciences it is often difficult to have enough data to point to a conclusion so unambiguously as to be obvious >If anyone has actual evidence of failure to disclose a conflict of interest in a published study, then it should be reported to the relevant institutions, not used as a platform to denounce all research on a topic. That sounds wonderful but in the real world moneyed interests have and use their means to promote their worldview. Medicine, food, and diet-related markets are lousy with overly ambitious marketers and outright frauds. I did not "denounce all research on a topic" I was responding to another poster who appeared to want to dismiss anyone's concerns about the potential health risks of artificial sweeteners.
- dbbolton 12y ago
  >difficult to have enough data to point to a conclusion so unambiguously as to be obvious You are right, but that also cuts both ways, which is why we rely on consensus. And the consensus of the international scientific community (not just the FDA or any such organization by itself) is that artificial sweeteners are safe. You are also right that CoI is not always a black-and-white issue, but that doesn't mean suspicions should be withheld from regulatory bodies and the publishing journal(s). Writing an OpEd on a personal webpage is not the most effective means to expose CoI, and, more importantly, such articles do not immediately overrule all consensus. If you really believe that the majority of studies involving the safety of artificial sweeteners are wrong, the best course of action is to demonstrate it empirically by duplicating the experiments and coming up with different data. Put together a reasonable paper, and other researchers will take note of it-- even if you believe the conspiracy theory that all major journals are puppets of the food industry. Ultimately, the data will trump the politics.

trhway 12y ago

>The "neurobiology of food reward" is the exact same for sugar and artificial sweeteners i beg your pardon. With sugar you're pretty much getting the glucose injection into bloodstream, all the energy producing machinery starts working and you get the feeling of your body being fed. There is no such blood-glucose level feedback in case of artificial sweeteners. So whatever havoc they wreck, i stay out of it :)

dbbolton 12y ago
Let me reiterate my point about eating and exercising in moderation. I said when you are not deprived of calories, meaning that if you still maintain adequate food intake throughout the day, there is no deleterious effect from the sweetener. Yes, if you drink nothing but diet soda all day and then eat a giant meal right before bed, that is probably not a healthy dietary cycle. But again, you can hardly blame that on the sweetener itself. In reality, I'm not sure this happens all that often. What's more common is reports of "sugar cravings" that increase with consumption of artificial sweeteners. It seems to vary from person to person, but obviously if that happens to you then you would be a fool to continue consuming them.

fnordfnordfnord 12y ago

>If you could demonstrate in controlled conditions that (ideally more than 13[1]) people who eat and exercise in moderation suddenly start gaining weight when artificial sweeteners are added to their diet (or losing weight when they are removed), it might be an interesting finding. I'm not into psych/medical research, but even in the hard sciences it is often difficult to have enough data to point to a conclusion so unambiguously as to be obvious >If anyone has actual evidence of failure to disclose a conflict of interest in a published study, then it should be reported to the relevant institutions, not used as a platform to denounce all research on a topic. That sounds wonderful but in the real world moneyed interests have and use their means to promote their worldview. Medicine, food, and diet-related markets are lousy with overly ambitious marketers and outright frauds. I did not "denounce all research on a topic" I was responding to another poster who appeared to want to dismiss anyone's concerns about the potential health risks of artificial sweeteners.

dbbolton 12y ago
>difficult to have enough data to point to a conclusion so unambiguously as to be obvious You are right, but that also cuts both ways, which is why we rely on consensus. And the consensus of the international scientific community (not just the FDA or any such organization by itself) is that artificial sweeteners are safe. You are also right that CoI is not always a black-and-white issue, but that doesn't mean suspicions should be withheld from regulatory bodies and the publishing journal(s). Writing an OpEd on a personal webpage is not the most effective means to expose CoI, and, more importantly, such articles do not immediately overrule all consensus. If you really believe that the majority of studies involving the safety of artificial sweeteners are wrong, the best course of action is to demonstrate it empirically by duplicating the experiments and coming up with different data. Put together a reasonable paper, and other researchers will take note of it-- even if you believe the conspiracy theory that all major journals are puppets of the food industry. Ultimately, the data will trump the politics.