Artificial Sweeteners - Do They Affect Fat Loss?

[Simon]

As per title there’s a lot of conflicting views on this. Have you found artificial sweeteners slowed your fat loss or no difference?

 

[Sjundea]

As per title there’s a lot of conflicting views on this. Have you found artificial sweeteners slowed your fat loss or no difference?

As you say conflicting views.
I've always used and noticed no difference. But then I have never competed, but usually stay quite lean.

 

[godsgifttoearth]

I was under the impression this was mostly debunked now. Article is a little out of date but the main issue, the effect on gut flora could potentially cause issues. The amounts used in the studies are utterly excessive, so its another one, in moderation.

https://www.strongerbyscience.com/an-unbiased-look-at-artificial-sweeteners/

End of the day, it has no calories and doesn't directly interact with any pathways that effect fat loss or gain. Most of the issues are psychological, through rebound hunger in fatties.

 

[Simon]

I was under the impression this was mostly debunked now. Article is a little out of date but the main issue, the effect on gut flora could potentially cause issues. The amounts used in the studies are utterly excessive, so its another one, in moderation.

https://www.strongerbyscience.com/an-unbiased-look-at-artificial-sweeteners/

End of the day, it has no calories and doesn't directly interact with any pathways that effect fat loss or gain. Most of the issues are psychological, through rebound hunger in fatties.

Thanks for the link. The fact there’s some evidence of changes to insulin resistance is what made me wonder if there’s some potential for it to affect fat loss but as you say they’re using high doses and many of the studies are on rats so may not be applicable.

I also don’t know the source of the studies. There’s obviously a very big commercial interest in ensuring artificial sweeteners are deemed safe and healthy. Companies like Coca Cola and Pepsi would be hit badly if it was proven they were damaging.

 

[noel]

From experience it’s not so much impacting fat loss but bloating and sparking off over eating on diets. Bit of sweetener. In coffee or few diet drinks fine. But lot of people go bananas with sugar free products which have sugar alchohols in. Causing digestion issues and then holding water which means weight doesn’t go down. Makes you crave more sweet stuff too. Which isn’t helpful on contest diets

 

[godsgifttoearth]

Thanks for the link. The fact there’s some evidence of changes to insulin resistance is what made me wonder if there’s some potential for it to affect fat loss but as you say they’re using high doses and many of the studies are on rats so may not be applicable.

I also don’t know the source of the studies. There’s obviously a very big commercial interest in ensuring artificial sweeteners are deemed safe and healthy. Companies like Coca Cola and Pepsi would be hit badly if it was proven they were damaging.

so does not getting enough fibre in your diet, which is probably more of a likely scenario for a lot of people than consuming the sheer amount of sweeteners that are needed to really impact it.

end of the day tho, they have zero calories, which is useful in a lot of scenarios. like, those last few lbs of a diet, you can barely move, you can't even convince yourself to crack a smile. a nice cold glass of a sugar free "pop" can often given a little bit of a mental boost. or lets you keep on drinking black coffee to stave off hunger pangs, with a bit of sweetener to make it easier to drink.