Artificial sweeteners like Splenda and Equal were once touted as a calorie

counter’s best friends: You can drink all the sweet tea, lemonade, and soda you
like, without ingesting a single calorie or gram of sugar. You can even eat
pudding, ice cream, yogurt, baked goods, and other desserts sweetened with sugar-
free substitutes. And yet, the proliferation of sugar-free foods and beverages
doesn’t seem to have made a dent in the obesity epidemic.

I tackled this paradox in one of the very first Nutrition Diva episodes back in
2008. Back then, we still weren’t sure whether there was something about artificial
sweeteners that directly promoted weight gain. Scientists wondered, for example,
whether artificial sweeteners might backfire by causing cravings for othersweets or
an increased appetite that would lead you to consume more calories. Early studies
in rats seemed to support this theory, but results in human trials have been mixed.

Alternatively, it could have been more of a behavioral phenomenon. For example, it

could be that using artificial sweeteners gives people a false sense of security
that leads them to over-consume other foods. (The old “I’m having Diet Coke so
super-size the fries” effect.)

This much is crystal clear: Artificial sweeteners do not automatically lead to

weight loss or prevent weight gain. Among people who use artificial sweeteners, the
only ones who seem to consistently lose or maintain their weight are the ones who
also strictly monitor and restrict their intake of other foods.
Another supposed advantage of artificial sweeteners is that they do not cause an
increase in blood sugar the way sugar does. This would seem to have obvious
benefits for those with diabetes or pre-diabetes. But a growing body of research
suggests exactly the opposite.

Although the artificial sweeteners themselves don’t cause your blood sugar to rise,
they appear to have a negative impact on your blood sugar response to other foods.

One large study found that consumption of aspartame (Equal) is associated with an
impaired ability to manage glucose in those who are overweight.

Another study found that overweight subjects who did not typically use artificial
sweeteners experienced higher blood sugar and insulin spikes from meals eaten after
they ingested sucralose (Splenda).