- Diet drinks may make slimmers fatter, scientists claimed
yesterday.
-
- They say the taste of the artificial sweeteners which
replace sugar in the low-calorie drinks damage the body's ability to link
sweetness with high calorie content in other items.
-
- Research at Purdue University, Indiana, showed people
learn from childhood that sweet tastes signal fattening food.
-
- But this ability to distinguish foods which are high
in calories can be disrupted when they take low-calorie sweet foods, such
as diet drink.
-
- Professor Terry Davidson said: 'The body's natural ability
to regulate food intake and body weight may be weakened when this natural
relationship is impaired by artificial sweeteners.
-
- 'Without thinking about it, the body learns that it can
use food characteristics such as sweetness and viscosity to gauge its caloric
intake.
-
- 'The body may use this information to determine how much
food is required to meet its calorific needs.
-
- 'When you substitute artificial sweetener for real sugar,
however, the body learns it can no longer use its sense of taste to 'count'
calories.
-
- 'This finding may explain why increasing numbers of people
lack the natural ability to regulate food intake and body weight.'
-
- The researchers studied two groups of rats one given
full-sugar drinks and the second fed liquids with artificial sweeteners.
-
- After 10 days, the rats were allowed to eat a chocolate
snack. And the rats given diet drinks ate much more than the other group.
-
- Prof Davidson said: 'This suggests the artificial sweeteners
reduced the natural ability of the rats to use sweet taste to judge the
calorific content of the snack.'
-
- The number of Americans using sugar-free products increased
from fewer than 70million in 1987 to more than 160million in 2000.
-
- Prof Davidson said: 'Consumption of sweeteners is not
the sole cause of obesity but it maybe a contributing factor.'
-
- http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/tm_objectid=14385402
&method=full&siteid=89488&headline=diet-drinks-can-
make-you-fatter-name_page.html
|