This is an epidemiological study, so you have to be careful about how you interpret it. They did try to account for general dietary intake via a questionnaire, but it can be hard to get accurate data this way. I still feel that the underlying cause here is that people who want to lose fat tend to take in more artificial sweeteners, and not that artificial sweeteners cause people to put on more fat.
Epidemiological studies are usually the only thing we can go by, though, because RCTs are hard to apply in many instances.
Edit: I also should mention that epidemiological studies are useful. Just that they may require interpretation and are not usually a smoking gun by themselves.
Weight gain or loss is just a numbers game of calories in vs calories out. Literally every diet that actually works boils down to a caloric deficit; and those that don’t work are because they fail to cross that line.
Any time you substitute something high calorie for low, it’s a step toward weight loss. So, artificial sweeteners (at least the zero calorie kinds like sucralose, aspartame, etc; not sure if high calorie sweeteners like high fructose corn syrup are considered “artificial” but it sure as fuck ain’t natural) are extremely useful as a weight loss tool.
The study linked could replace artificial sweeteners with almost any weight loss tool and find the same result. “Study links people who sign up for an initial gym membership to increased body fat adipose tissue volume!!” …like, no shit Sherlock, they’re there to lose it.
Be careful not to draw the wrong conclusion from a misleading headline.
But satiety is very complex, and it’s possible that sweetener replacements make people hungrier in the long run, leading to weight gain.
IIRC that was a popular opinion about artificial sweeteners for a while because pigs are raised on food with sweeteners, to make them eat more. That doesn’t mean sweeteners make you hungrier though, just that pigs like to eat sweet things so they eat more of it.
deleted by creator
TIL I’m a pig
Today we unite, my pig sibling!
Supposedly the study already accounted for that (amount and quality of food eaten).
Satiety is helpful in managing the “calories in” half of weight loss, but it’s not an absolute must. Knowing when it’s safe to ignore hunger and doing so when you’ve already used up you’re caloric budget for the day is a huge part of successful weight loss. Basically same spiel with the “calories out” end. Working out can be fun (which is helpful because it makes you want to do it), but a lot of times it’s not - but if you want to lose weight, you do it anyway.
“This study showed that habitual, long-term intake of total and individual artificial sweetener intakes are related to greater volumes of adipose tissue, commonly known as body fat,” said Brian Steffen, PhD, MSCR, a professor in the Department of Surgery at the U of M Medical School and co-investigator on the funded grant. “This was found even after accounting for other factors, including how much a person eats or the quality of one’s diet.”
That’s what makes this study so interesting.
What!? That makes no sense.
They saw an association between sweetener intake and change in fat over 25 years. Not relative to the population, relative to their past selves. How would a weight loss tool increasing your body fat over 25 years be obvious?
That’s my point - it makes no sense. They’re either overlooking something, or artificials have some influence on the calories out side of weight loss that we don’t know about.
They have a pretty detailed discussion section. The main hypothesis they support, based on plenty of other evidence, is that these drugs increase appetite. They motivate you to eat more calories, even though they contain fewer calories themselves.
Could not agree more. They over complicated weight loss and what you have to do so badly now. Keto, Shmeeto, No carb, All carb, fasting, starving, whatever. Just STOP. Exercise regularly & use like an 80/20 method where 80% of the time you eat quality, whole foods. Keep portions within reason. Splurge where applicable. Exercise often. There, DONE. And yes, you can even eat some sugar and it wont kill you, LOL.
This study is bogus.
Ive been using splenda and stevia for years now, and I would definitely say they have helped me with losing weight, combined wirh full on avoiding sugar and sugary foods. Steered clear of diet coke recently due to aspertame, but even that didn’t lead to weight gain much more than regular coke did.
I wonder if the diet soda studies are related to this?
For instance, diet Coke intake is supposed to correlate with very bad health outcomes.
Edit: downvoted for a question in a Science community? Do better, people.
Could it be that people who are already predisposed to getting overweight try to avoid it by diet drinks, but fail because it’s genetics and they take more calories on average? Correlation=/=Causation?
I mostly agree with your point, just substitute “genetics” for the actual array of reasons why we have an obesity epidemic. Environment, upbringing, emotional state, level of education, financial resources, access to healthy food, sedentary lifestyle, disordered eating habits, trauma, medications, hormonal imbalances, physical and mental health, etc.
It’s common sense that people trying to lose weight are more likely to reach for non-caloric products, and with other studies showing that most people who lose weight will gain it back within 5-10 years, it’s makes this study’s results obvious and proves nothing new unfortunately. Sweeteners very well could be an independent cause of weight gain, but until they account for all of the confounding factors that influence why people gain and lose weight, they won’t be able to determine its true role in the matter.
Wanted to keep it short, guy above said it right
This is the best summary I could come up with:
However, the study found no significant association between the artificial sweetener sucralose and these measures of fat volume.
“This study showed that habitual, long-term intake of total and individual artificial sweetener intakes are related to greater volumes of adipose tissue, commonly known as body fat,” said Brian Steffen, PhD, MSCR, a professor in the Department of Surgery at the U of M Medical School and co-investigator on the funded grant.
“This was found even after accounting for other factors, including how much a person eats or the quality of one’s diet.”
Based on their results, the researchers recommend considering alternative approaches, as long-term artificial sweetener consumption may have potential health consequences.
The researchers emphasize the need for more studies to better understand the connection between artificial sweetener intake and increased body fat.
Further research is warranted to explore the underlying mechanisms and gain clearer insights into how dietary habits affect metabolic health.
I’m a bot and I’m open source!
Did they control for the fact that being overweight can be a cause to switch from sugar to sweeteners?
I just created the summary! You can find it at https://lemmings.world/comment/921126.
Let me ask for a minute: What angle does this come from? Who funded the study? Sometimes you have to ask yourself these questions because someone may have an axe to grind or money to make by conducting these studies. Just saying…
Fat people try to list weight, more at 11
