"Sickly Sweet" - Non-Nutritive Sweetener (NNS) - Maybe not such a sweet deal for your health
Non-Nutritive Sweeteners (NNS) - May not such a sweet deal for your health!
Your body is not "fooled" by sweetness with 0 calories!
NNS without accompanying glucose / carbs may stress the adrenal
glands and/or lead to hypoglycemic effect
When our taste buds register a sweet taste from
a food that does NOT also provide glucose ,
our sugar-handling mechanism may go awry and appetite regulating
systems are disrupted.
On sensing sweet, the body prepares itself for receiving
sugar. Glucose
is typically cleared from the blood causing blood sugar to drop, but since no "refill"
glucose arrives, the body is forced
to induce a stress response to restore blood sugar levels. This requires a surge
in ADRENALINE and CORTISOL to mobilize sugar
from other sources (liver, muscle glycogen, protein or body tissue). This fight-or-flight
response is meant to be reserved for stressful times of need, not merely for eating.
The consequences of over-producing stress hormones includes:
• Suppressed immune system • Increased
inflammation • Reduced thyroid function
To find out if consuming an NNS is having a hypoglycemic effect
(with inherent stress reaction), you will need to test your blood sugar before and
after NNS consumption. There should not be a problem if consuming
another sugar or carbohydrate at the same time
NNS induce carb cravings / appetite stimulation
/ hunger pangs / sugar dependence
How ironic is this!
Eating something sweet causes your brain to release DOPAMINE, activating your
brain's reward center. Normally, after registering the anticipated incoming
calories, the hormone LEPTIN is released to inform the brain that the expected reward
has been received. When the expected calories do not
arrive , the need for glucose persists and so your body continues to
signal for the missing carbohydrates. You feel this as a carb craving and
in satisfying this need you put on weight. (J. of
Phys, 2013; Scientific Amer, 2013)
Earlier studies indicated that
consuming non-caloric artificial sweeteners
induce hunger by causing us to lose control of normal appetite mechanisms :
(1) Stimulating
your appetite
(2)
Increasing carbohydrate cravings -
with a tendency to choose sweet foods over nutritious foods
(3)
Stimulating fat storage and weight gain:
This phenomenon was later found to
be more general, in that any
orally palatable .
However, this phenomenon
does not occur without orosensory stimulation (E.g. via capsules)
(Mattes, 1994)
However, more recent studies indicate that
when NNS are added to
caloric products Mattes & Popkin, 2009)
References
The Journal of Physiology 2013 Nov 15;591(22):5727-44
Scientific American September 5, 2013
Mattes RD. (1994) Interaction between the energy content
and sensory properties of foods. Birch G, Campbell-Platt G, editors. , eds Synergy.
Hampshire, United Kingdom: Intercept, Ltd, 39-51.
Mattes RD, Popkin BM. (2009) Nonnutritive sweetener consumption
in humans: effects on appetite and food intake and their putative mechanisms. Am
J Clin Nutr. 89:1-14.
PMC free article
PubMed
