Unsweetening the Diet

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The third way artificial sweeteners may counterintuitively lead to weight gain involves maintaining the cravings of, and dependency on, all things sweet. By continuing to consume any sweeteners—with or without calories—we are unable to train our flavor preferences away from intensely sweet foods.

It’s like if you go on a low-salt diet, for the first few weeks, everything tastes like cardboard—until your taste buds have a chance to adapt to the new norm. After that, naturally low-sodium foods taste perfectly fine. And, adding table salt tastes gross, because it’s way too salty.

Same thing with the sweeteners. At home, maybe you use erythritol. That’s great. But then, you go on vacation—and what if you forget it at home? You still take your preference for intensely sweet food with you. And, that may end up translating into the increased consumption of less than healthy foods.

So, those are the caveats, even for something nontoxic like erythritol. It’s safe, but only if you don’t use it as an excuse to eat more junk food.

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• Yang Q. Gain weight by 'going diet?' Artificial sweeteners and the neurobiology of sugar cravings: Neuroscience 2010. Yale J Biol Med. 2010 Jun;83(2):101-8.

Image thanks to Amy Loves Yah via flickr

• artificial sweeteners
• caloric restriction
• calories
• erythritol
• fat
• junk food
• obesity
• salt
• sugar
• sweeteners
• weight loss