(Mission Times Courier, San Diego, CA) - Do low-calorie sweeteners cause weight gain? This seems to be the burning question these days, and one the media appears completely dazzled by.
A close look at the clinical research, however, reveals the reality - low-calorie sweeteners are helpful, not harmful, in weight loss and weight management efforts. If you consider the way we gain weight - when calories in exceed calories out - replacing the calories from a sugary, high calorie food with a low-calorie sweetened food should help with the weight loss side of the equation.
"The claim that low-calorie sweeteners cause weight gain is based on a few studies that have been met with significant criticism from nutrition experts. The studies in question contradict years of human clinical studies - and practical experience - that show low-calorie sweeteners are useful in facilitating weight loss," explains Jennie McCary, MS, RD, LD, a registered dietitian and spokesperson for the New Mexico Dietetic Association.
One article that received wide media coverage, published in Behavioral Neuroscience, linked low-calorie sweeteners with weight gain in rats that ate yogurt sweetened with saccharin. Does that mean human waistlines will expand if light yogurt is part of the daily eating regimen? Not quite. Upon expert review of this study, there were several problems identified in the research, including the small sample size of only 27 rats. In addition, it's important to note that humans and animals such as rats are very different in terms of how they "taste" different sweeteners and what external cues trigger eating. The bottom line is that the study's findings likely have limited, if any, applicability to the real human situation.
Another study that made headlines from the journal Circulation accessed a number of dietary patterns and risk of developing metabolic syndrome based on a population of 9,514 middle-aged men and women enrolled in the Atherosclerosis Risk in Communities (ARIC) study over a nine-year period. There are a variety of symptoms of metabolic syndrome, with weight gain, particularly around the belly, and diabetes among the hallmarks.
One observation of the authors was that people with diets high in diet soda had greater risk of metabolic syndrome. The authors suggested a "reverse causality" between diet soda intake and metabolic syndrome, but what does that mean? Since diabetes is common among people with metabolic syndrome, many of the study participants are likely to be replacing sugar sweetened beverages with diet soda for better blood sugar control. In addition, many of them were probably overweight or obese and trying to decrease caloric intake in an effort to lose weight or not gain additional pounds - which is where low-calorie sweeteners come in as a calorie saving, weight management tool. So it seems reasonable that the correlation between the soda intake and the risk of metabolic syndrome existed not because soda was a "cause," but because the population was more likely to be top consumers of low-calorie products in general.
In contrast, weight management programs generally report a benefit when including low-calorie sweeteners to improve weight loss outcomes. Research in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition examined the effects of the addition of the low-calorie sweetener aspartame in the diet of 168 obese women aged 20 to 60. Women in the group that included aspartame had better results than those without, even after a two-year period. The authors suggested that incorporating aspartame-sweetened foods and beverages within a well-rounded program may help in weight management over the long term. A 2006 Nutrition Bulletin review of relevant studies concluded that "using foods and drinks sweetened with aspartame instead of those sweetened with sucrose is an effective way to maintain and lose weight without reducing the palatability of the diet."
It is not only about calories, but quality of the diet, that matters too. In a study in the Journal of Food Science, consumers of reduced-calorie products - which contain low-calorie sweeteners, were found to have an overall better quality diet and consumed fewer calories than people who chose not to use reduced-calorie products.
"Basically, low-calorie sweeteners are a sweet alternative to sugar and high calorie foods and beverages without breaking the calorie bank," explains McCary. "Using them can help drive calories down in favor of weight loss or maintenance. And, they [low-calorie sweeteners] may even facilitate healthier food choices overall."
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