Do Artificial Sweeteners Increase Weight Gain

People start using artificial sweeteners in place of sugar for avoiding calories. They think that using this they will be able to lose weight.

But there have been conflicting reports regarding whether artificial sweeteners lead to weight gain or not. At least what is almost certain is that it certainly does not reduce weight. Most people assume that replacing artificial sweeteners with sugar will help them lose a lot of weight in a short span of time.

However that is not the case. There have been tests conducted in the past on rats to check whether artificial sweeteners lead to weight gain or not. In this particular test a set of rats were given artificial yogurt and the other set of rats were given yogurt mixed with sugar. And the results were quite startling. That is because rats that were fed artificial flavored yogurt overate whereas the ones that were given yogurt mixed with sugar didn’t overeat. This shows that they responded differently on testing artificial flavored yogurt.

This suggests that when we eat any sweet product or any other product which is full of calories our brains react fast as if it knows that they should stop after sometime or they will end up adding more calories to the body. This instant reaction isn’t there when we eat a product that contains artificial sweetener in it. Instead of stopping after a point we go on eating because we like the taste and also our responses don’t tell us to stop. There have been no confirmed reports on the past regarding whether artificial sweeteners lead to weight gain or weight loss.

It is also true that we cannot base our judgment on tests that have been conducted on animals but we cannot come to a conclusion regarding artificial sweeteners and weight gain. Hence if someone wants to lose the extra calories and is thinking of using artificial sweeteners instead of sugar then they must remember that in weight loss it is also important to remember the calories that one is not burning. It could be that your weight gain may increase after using artificial sweeteners.