Dukan Diet

Artificial Sweetened Foods Promote Not Hinder Fat ! Loss 1 2kg Body Fat in 70 Days By Eating Artificially Sweetened Products Lower Hunger Higher Fat Oxidation vs Sucrose

Artificial sweeteners - Could they really be less toxic and obesogenic than half of the blogosphere has it? The study at hand suggests so, but its significance is limited..

The recently posted SuppVersity Classic "Sweet, But Not Innocent!? The Fattening Effects of the Non - Nutritive Sweeteners Erythritol & Aspartame Are On Par With Equally Sweet Sugar Water" (read more) has gotten quite some attention on Facebook, against that background I suppose that todays SuppVersity article will, once more inflame passions. The use of artificial sweeteners as dieting aids is after all highly controversial within the health and fitness community.

If youve read my previous reviews of the corresponding papers, you will yet be aware that there is not a single human study to confirm that any of the "classic" artificial sweeteners (sucralose, aspartame & co) would have negative effects on the loss of body and fat mass during dietary restriction - an still you hear and read corresponding claims on almost every virtual corner of the blogosphere.
In this respect, the latest paper by Lone B Sørensen, Tatjana H Vasilaras, Arne Astrup, and Anne Raben is no exception. What is extraordinary, though, is that it describes a relatively tightly controlled single-blind 10-week parallel design study that provides convincing evidence that the association between artificial sweetener consumption and obesity that has been observed in epidemiological studies would be a good example to explain the term "reverse causation" [fat people buy diet products vs. diet products make lean people fat].

In the said study, 24 healthy, overweight subjects had to consume a specific minimum amount of either sucrose-sweetened or artificially sweetened foods and drinks daily.

"The subjects were assigned to 3 different levels of supplements according to their initial body weight: level 1, 2, or 3 corresponding to 60–75, 75–90, and.90 kg, respectively. The minimum intake of the experimental diet was regulated by the sucrose intake and corresponded to a sucrose intake of 125 g/d (level 1), 150 g/d (level 2), and 175 g/d (level 3). This corresponded to a total EI from sucrose supplements of 2.74, 3.29, and 3.83 MJ/d, respectively."

The sweetener group received an equivalent amount (by weight) of foods and drinks, which resulted in an average EI of 694, 832, or 971 kJ/d at levels 1, 2, and 3, respectively. The artificial sweetener content of the intervention diet was 54% aspartame, 23% cyclamate, 22% acesulfame K, and 1% saccharin.
In the sucrose group, ~70% of the sucrose came from drinks (average: ~1.3 L/d), and ~30% came from solids foods. About 80% by weight of the supplements were beverages, and ~20% by weight were solid foods. The beverages consisted of several soft drinks and fruit juices, and the solid foods consisted of yogurt, marmalade, ice cream, and stewed fruit.

The products were handed to all participants at the University without informing them about the specific content of sucrose and artificial sweeteners in the supplemented products was unknown to the subjects - all thought, they were consuming products with artificial sweeteners. Otherwise, they were advised to to consume their habitual diet ad libitum. And guess what happened!?

Figure 1: Changes in body weight and fat mass (kg) and energy intake (in MJ) during breakfast, lunch and dinner measured on the one day all subjects had to spend in a metabolic ward (Sorensen.2014).

Yep, you already saw it, the sugar victims (sucrose sweetened products) got fat, while the subjects who had been supplied with artificially sweetened products saw small, bus significant improvements in their body composition without deliberately restricting their energy intake (Remember: all subjects thought that they were consuming zero calorie products).

The reason? Well, take a look at the left hand side of Figure 1. The subjects in the sucrose group did what some people claim would happen, if you consume artificially sweetened products: They ate more! Why? Well, because they were hungrier. Significantly hungrier; and that in spite of their 22% higher energy intake.

Figure 2: The satiety response at lunch was (non significantly) less sustained in the sucrose group (full circles) compared to the artificial sweetener group (open circles) during the subjects visit at the metabolic ward (Sorensen. 2014).

Especially after lunch, the satiety effects were significantly less sustained than in the artificial sweetener group (see Figure 2). What is interesting, though, is the fact that unlike its consequences and the perceived fullness and prospective food consumption (not shown in Figure 2), the satiety difference did not reach statistical significance.

Figure 3: 24h fatty acid oxidation after 10 weeks on diets with sucrose or artificially sweetened add-ons (Sorensen. 2014)

The data in Figure 1 did already tell you: The net effect of the satiety differences was a significantly higher energy intake (+22%) that was not fully compensated by the ca. 6% higher total 24h energy expenditure of the subjects in the sucrose group.

In concert with the reduced fatty acid oxidation rates (see Figure 3) the remaining energy surplus of approx. 1,000kcal (thats the mere mathematical difference of total 24h energy expenditure during the stay at the metabolic ward and the corresponding energy intake) was obviously more than enough to fatten the subjects up.
References: 

• Sørensen, Lone B., et al. "Sucrose compared with artificial sweeteners: a clinical intervention study of effects on energy intake, appetite, and energy expenditure after 10 wk of supplementation in overweight subjects." The American journal of clinical nutrition (2014): ajcn-081554.