Artificial Sweeteners Lead to Overeating (In Lab Rats). What Does this Mean for People?
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Today's headline "Artificial Sweeteners Lead to Overeating" raises some interesting questions. The researchers claim that rats fed artificial sweeteners lose sense of their caloric intake and satiety - that sense that keeps us from eating ourselves into a coma, or until we bust. Representatives of the artificial sweetener industry (which is very closely tied to the sugar industry - many artificial sweeteners are made from sugar) are objecting shrilly, claiming that the studies are flawed, and (quite rightly) that rats are not people. True enough - rats are indeed not people. Rats don't give two hoots (do rats give any hoots?) whether that are fat or not - they just want to eat well, like anyone does. People, on the other hand, (at least most people) do give two hoots, or at least claim to. We have been conditioned for many years now to take note of that roll that seems to be blocking access to our belt buckles and automatically reach for the "diet" drinks and foods on our convenience store shelves or that packet of sugar substitute for our coffee, confident that by "limiting" our sugar in take in this way we can somehow magically lose weight and become slim once more.
Let's look at some common vignettes of the American experience for a moment - Sally, at the coffee bar (you know the one, the one out of Seattle…) orders a muffin (about 900 calories or so, and maybe 125 gm of carbs,) and then, to make sure she doesn't get "fat," orders her double mocha latte to be sweetened with a sugar substitute. Billy, stopping at the convenience store at mid-day for a quick snack, is tempted by those nice fresh donuts (you know, the "crispy" ones…) but just 'cause he knows that too much sugar is bad for him, he makes sure that his gallon-size "big gulp" is the "diet" variety, artificially sweetened. Bubba, walking out of the fast food joint with his bucket of fried chicken, potato salad, and fluffy white rolls, is also swinging a six-pack of "diet" sodas - all this for lunch. I've know a bunch of these guys (and gals), they are usually "big people" who know that they are big, and think that maybe they could stand to lose a few pounds. A typical discussion of diet with them might produce comments like "well, I know I could lose a few pounds (Bubba weighs, say, 280 lbs), but you know, it's tough to eat right when you're on the road a lot (Bubba drives truck, or works construction, or any of those other jobs that keep America rolling), and I work it off too… besides, it runs in my family - we're all "big folk"… so I watch what I eat, and drink these diet sodas every chance I get… It just seems like I'm hungry all the time!"
So, what is the bottom line in this argument? Well, the people who object to this study and point out that artificial sweeteners can have a good and safe place in a well-designed reduced calorie diet to lose weight are probably right - they are a useful tool for planned dieting. The researchers are probably right from their stand point too - they worked with mindless rats, and found that the artificial sweeteners made them fatter, and extrapolate that the habitual use of artificial sweeteners, as a panacea to overeating and poor diet otherwise, may actually be making America fatter. So let's put both arguments together, and say that Americans should educate themselves better about how and what they are eating and drinking, and stop looking for the "quick, easy fixes" promised by diet sweetener, or diet pills, or other diet nonsense. Increase activity, reduce calories, or reduce carbs, (or best, do all three) and stop looking for something or someone to blame for your "dunlap disease". (A problem characterized by a condition where the belly "dun lap" over the belt buckle).
Cheers, Nurse Mark
9:10:27 AM 
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