Yesterday we covered much of research regarding the safety of aspartame and most other non-nutritive sweeteners, but what about their affect on weight loss?
Are artificial sweeteners keeping you fat?
Again, let’s take a look at what the RESEARCH has to say:
1. Kanders BS et al. An evaluation of the effect of aspartame on weight loss. Appetite. 1988; 11 Suppl 1:73-84.
In this study, two groups were analyzed: diet only and diet plus aspartame. In the end, the diet plus aspartame group resulted in 33% greater weight loss over a 12 week period.
2. Blackburn GL et al. The effect of aspartame as part of a multidisciplinary weight-control program on short- and long-term control of body weight. Am J Clin Nutr. 1997 Feb;65(2):409-18.
In this study, researchers at Harvard Medical School analyzed aspartame’s impact on weight loss and long-term maintenance of lost weight. Over a 19-week period, study participants regularly consuming aspartame lost more weight than those abstaining from its use. Moreover, the aspartame group was able to better maintain lost weight over a 2 year follow-up period when compared to the non-aspartame group.
3. Renwick AG. Intense sweeteners, food intake, and the weight of a body of evidence. Physiol Behav. 1994 Jan;55(1):139-43. Review.
A comprehensive review of the research done on HUMANS “does not support the concept that the consumption of intense sweeteners results in a paradoxical increase in calorie intake and body weight”
What about the idea that non-nutritive sweetener intake triggers one to eat more because it’s sending a sweet signal to the brain without the calories?
4. Van Wymelbeke V, et al. Influence of repeated consumption of beverages containing sucrose or intense sweeteners on food intake. Eur J Clin Nutr. 2004 Jan;58(1):154-61.
In this 2004 study, participants were given either sugar sweetened or aspartame sweetened beverages for one month; effects on food intake were analyzed. The result: the aspartame group did not experience an increase in food intake to “make up” for the calories not consumed in the beverages they drank (i.e. the sugar group consumed more total calories, and obviously, significantly more sugar).
And for those health professionals taking the stance that the use of nonnutritive sweeteners will lessen dietary adherence by causing dieters to crave other sweets, you’d also expect these individuals to recommend avoiding fruits and anything else both sweet and extremely healthful-but they’re not, leaving a huge inconsistency in the argument.
Simply put, in everything I have seen, the exact opposite has been true-the use of nonnutritive sweeteners increases dietary adherence by giving individuals a no-calorie outlet to satisfy the occasional sweet craving. Nonnutritive sweeteners provide a great alternative to sugar-laden beverages and other counterproductive sweet products and further lessen the temptation of resorting to such products to satisfy a sweet craving.
And as you can see, the research on non-nutritive sweeteners and weight loss back this up many times over.
A couple of important things to note:
1. If you are using “packets”, be it blue, pink, or yellow – all of these have calorie-containing, insulin spiking “carriers” (the most common being maltodextrin). Because there is less than one gram of these calories (really .8 grams or so), manufacturers are allowed to round down and claim zero grams and zero calories. This is not a big deal at all assuming you are using one or two packets, but for those who add 10 packets of Equal to their cereal, sorry, you’re only fooling yourself.
2. I still recommend the bulk of your fluid intake come in the form of good old fashion water.
With that, I’ll wrap up our discussion of artificial sweeteners, aspartame, safety, and weight loss. In summary, people can talk theory and anecdotes all they want, but the research simply doesn’t validate it.
At least 100 comments and I’ll be back before you know it with more content (perhaps I’ll even do a post on Stevia and Agave)!
Talk to you in the comments section!
Joel
P.S. My friend Isabel kind of bashes artificial sweeteners in the below video, and while I do NOT agree with that stance, I do agree with just about everything else she shares for losing up to 10% of your unwanted body fat in the next 30 days. You can check it out here for some eye-opening, actionable tips:
How to lose up to 10% of your unwanted body fat in the next 30 days <——- Click here
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Joel,
You can’t be surprised at the responses you’ve been receiving here. Did you really think that scientific evidence would persuade their opinions? After all, O.J. Simpson was acquitted of a double murder in spite of the overwhelming scientific evidence presented against him.
Wanna ruffle even more feathers? Say that high fructose corn syrup is no worse than sugar (sucrose). That always gets them screaming!
Look what I stambled on, and I wasn’t even looking for it :-)
http://www.proteinpower.com/drmd_blog/?p=142
I think that is a quite balanced way to look at it. We all are individuals.
Hey Joel,
It took me awhile to stop using sugar….then recently I decided to stop the artificial sweeteners just because of the artificial “stuff” in them….I believe in moderation and long term great health…..Your article lets me know it’s OK now and then…..
You do not present all the reasearch done about artificial sweetners and you can defenitly find research that are very neagtiv against aspartam or any artificial sweetners.
I also, being a scientist myself, questions how serious this so-called research is. I mean you can find “serious” research that is pro cigarettes and claims that smoking doesn’t harm you. This research is of course paid by the cigarette industri in order to promote their products. The same goes for the artificial sweetner industri they have paid of researchers for years to “fix” the results, they have also done “serious” research claiming that Stevia is not good for you at all.
Also remember that a lot of the results released to the public is severly edited and a lot of the negative is hidden, because they now that most people can’t read and understand every aspect of a scientific report.
T
@Roger F – In japan they have had fizzy drinks sweetened with Stevia for years and they are really, really good. Japanese governement also forced CocaColaCompany to use Stevia in their diet and zero products or else they couldn’t sell it on the Japanese market. I have tried the C.Zero with Stevia and I love it. It will hopefully be on the market here in Europa before to long.
Very interesting! i WOULD LOVE TO HEAR WHAT YOU SAY ABOUT STEVIA AND AGAVE. Right now I’m going out of my way to use only these sweetners so I would be curious if I’m wasting my time. Thanks for your excellent site!
This is the first time I comment on your blogs. I hope you are still accepting comments and will come back with a post on stevia and agave. I used to drink diet soda (somewhat addicted to Fresca). Gave it up and don’t miss it a bit. My intake of aspartame is now very occasional, and on those occasions, I don’t fuss about it. It is all a question of moderation. I use stevia when making a sort of smoothie with plain yogourt, a banana and frozen fruit. It needs sweetening. Stevia helps but I often find it doesn’t completely do the job, and the drink tastes better if I add some honey (preferably raw) as well.
Now I have another question: I pretty well drink only water during the day, but at night, especially outside of meals, I prefer carbonated water (perrier type). It is more “dressy” and satisfying. I drink close to a liter of the stuff a day. Is there research showing any bad effects of this on health or weight loss?
Thanks!
I would like to hear about it to. That was very informative and now I am more knowledgeable and can tell others to STUFF it when they bash me about drinking diet soda.
Aspartame may help you lose weight, but it does worse things to your health. 10% of aspartame is methanol, which, when not accompanied by ethanol (which it’s not in aspartame), it converts into formaldehyde in your body (formaldehyde does many things to your body, but put simply, it’s an ingredient in cigarettes, I think that says it all). Aspartame also has phenyaline, which can convert into a brain tumour agent.
I think it all comes down to the person. I don’t like anything with “artificial” in its name. I’m generally against processed or completely man-made stuff. I don’t have a particular sweet tooth, so I might be speaking from a different position to a lot of other people. Still, whenever I get cravings or anything, I’d rather reach for fruit than a sugary snack.
You can find studies to back up whatever you want to prove. You have to be careful who you trust. I’d love to see more on the methodology, and the actual data, from these studies.
The body wasn’t designed for these chemicals. You don’t even need a study to know that. There have been lots of reports from people who suffer side effects or worse. Anecdotal evidence is not necessarily invalid. It just depends on who you want to believe, doesn’t it?
My personal experience is that these substances are harmful for me and my husband. Personal experience usually trumps everything else. There is a good chance you are living off your “youthful capital”, by which I mean your good health that counteracts these things now. But eventually, they may well catch up with you. If you want to drink stuff with these chemicals in it, fine, but I do wish you wouldn’t mislead other people. It makes me trust you less in your other recommendations.
hi,
i find this research on sweetners thoght provoking. It is hard however to steer clear from the bad notoriety they have gained over the years re health issues. I would be interested to hear your take on stevia and agave syrup as i use both of these and do not use sweetners. also do you have any thoughts on palm sugar as i hear its meant to be the healthiest of all sweetners and sugars.
I’ve been making a deliberate effort to take out fake sugars from my diet. I’ve read it makes it more difficult to metabolise (because its not natural), even if it is low calorie. I found that it can actually give me quite bad headaches. I opt for a tspn of agave if I need anything (which isn’t that often) and buy protein shakes that are sweetend wtih stevia and not artifical sweeteners. Would love to hear your thoughts on stevia and agave?
If you think that these sweetners are okay to use and your friend Isabel says to stay away from them, where does that leave us as the little person? You are both professionals giving us differing opinons and yet say that you follow the same ideas. Who should we be believing? I have both your programs and Isabels program as well, not to mention a few from more of your friends. So far you are the only one that has said that artifical sweetners won’t hurt you but then I’m not really having much luck with CYWT either. Help me out with that (and I am very focused when it comes to my health and diet) and then I might start believing in you again.
From a disillusioned fan
Just a very very quick chemical breakdown, but the way I see it, if Aspartam is broken down in the body and forms methanol (and is not converted into anything else by the digestive system with the other elements that are floating around!), Methanol is CH3-OH, Aspartame is somthing like CO5H3N2… Break that down to Methanol, it’s possible but you still get left with a bunch of hydrogen and nitrogen atoms, so probably at worst half of the quantity of aspartame *could potentially* get converted… If I have a lazy afternoon, I’ll look up the digestion of aspartame on google and see what happens in vivo rather than in vitro.
This has been a great little series of articles Joel. We’re ALL going to consume these artificial sweeteners in some form or fashion, even if we’re trying to avoid them. They’re in almost EVERYTHING that is low sugar, low calorie, convenient and considered moderately healthy.
Just like everything that is NOT natural…awareness is the key. You did a GREAT job creating awareness. Thanks for the great info.
Shaun
Hi Joel,
thanks for providing this information. I’ve find it refreshing to get information that allows me to make more informed choices about what I do and do not consume. It’s also be a real eye-opener in terms of how easily people can misread or misinterpret what is being presented, and for what it’s worth, I really appreciate the effort you have applied to trying to get the message across about the quality of research and the moderation factor! At the end of the day – it’s still our choice and for myself, I am working on my own goals of increasing my whole food consumption and moving away from anything processed or artificial and discovering it’s a lot easier than I expected in many ways but with mindset being the trickiest by far in my case. So the information you have provided allows me to give myself a break while adjusting to my new eating/drinking habits and has reminded me also that it is my choice irrespective of what the research shows – or what other people think I should or shouldn’t be doing.
I’m looking forward to your post on stevia and agave.
WOW!!!
At the very least this has sparked some really good discussion, and that can ONLY lead to eventual learning. Let’s all just take a breath here and look back at some of what seems to have been forgotten in the original and subsequent posts by Joel:
1. In peer reviewed research studies involving humans, there is no significant correlation between RECOMMENDED use of artificial sweeteners and long term health risk.
2. In peer reviewed research studies involving humans, there is no statistical correlation between recommended use of artificial sweeteners and an adverse affect on wieght loss (specifically fat loss).
3. MOST IMPORTANTLY Joel states quite clearly “I still recommend the bulk of your fluid intake come in the form of good old fashion water.”
I would like to think that although we are all passionate about health/fitness, we can still step back and address the situation from a standpoint that looks at physical, mental, and social/emotional health…and not just fat loss.
be well.
t.
@ andy:
What? You sir are barely literate, and we are suppose to believe anything you say.
Joel, keep up the good work and I’ll keep drinking my coke zero.
@ Solvi:
You sir, are wrong. I live in Japan, and I am looking, at this moment, at a bottle of coke zero bought at the 7-11 around the corner from my room….and there, on the label is written, in kataka, ASPERTAME. i don’t know where you tasted Stevia Coke zero, but it certainly wasn’t in Japan.
Well put Joel!
So we both agree on the main point, which is…
1. Drink mostly water.
2. Sweeteners, both artificial AND natural, are OK in moderation.
Science proves it.
Cool. Let’s keep an eye on the research and see if anything changes in the next 10 to 20 years.
So…I’m really looking forward to your write up on agave syrup. There are a lot of BIG NAME health “gurus” writing about the dangers of using agave because of the high fructose content. Let’s did in to those scientific studies and find the REAL truth.
Wishing you optimal health,
Pete
I came across a report which said that artificial sweeteners rob the body of both Phosphorous and Calcium (from the bones). Is there any truth in this ?
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Hey, it’s Joel! So you want to know a little more about me, huh? Well, I’d be happy to oblige :-)
I guess it all started back in 2001 (my freshman year of college) when I was just a “skinny fat” 19-year old kid. At the time, I was spending close to 2 hours a day in the gym (now my workouts last about 30 minutes), and despite my efforts, you’d probably never guess I worked out a day in my life by looking at me...read more