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I pulled the following from USA Today.

Maybe switching from regular soda to diet doesn’t help as much as we thought.

A new study from the Medical College of Wisconsin and Marquette University links artificial sweeteners to obesity and diabetes, claiming sweeteners change how the body processes fat and uses energy.

Researchers fed groups of rats diets high in sugar or artificial sweeteners including aspartame and acesulfame potassium. After three weeks, blood samples showed significant differences in concentrations of biochemicals, fats and amino acids.

“We observed that in moderation, your body has the machinery to handle sugar,” said Brian Hoffmann, lead researcher on the study and assistant professor of biomedical engineering at the Medical College of Wisconsin and Marquette University. “It is when the system is overloaded over a long period of time that this machinery breaks down. We also observed that replacing these sugars with non-caloric artificial sweeteners leads to negative changes in fat and energy metabolism.”

Findings were presented during the 2018 Experimental Biology meeting held in San Diego.

Before you scramble to dump out all those artificial sweeteners, researchers note this study doesn’t clearly say whether they are better or worse than sugar.

“As with other dietary components, I like to tell people moderation is the key if one finds it hard to completely cut something out of their diet,” Hoffmann said in a statement. 

This is not the first research suggesting artificial sweeteners might have a negative impact on your health. Last year, a study claimed drinks with artificial sweeteners could increase a person’s risk of dementia or stroke.

Four years ago, a separate study published in Nature said sweeteners have an equally direct impact on causing diabetes as sugar.

The studies just go on an on.  I found things on credible websites that date back to the 1970’s. Researchers have known for decades that artificial sweeteners are not good.  I read things recently that show that regular consumption of artificial sweeteners leads to sugar cravings. The receptors in your brain don’t “read” artificial sweeteners like they do sugar. When you eat sugar the satisfaction signal kicks in telling your brain you don’t need more. That never happens with artificial sweeteners. You never get enough.

And now they are observing that your body won’t process fat the same way when you regularly consume artificial sweeteners, so your midsection gets fatter even though you are consuming something that has no calories.

This is all difficult to relate and to understand. I do know that with Plan Z dieters the elimination of artificial sweeteners and artificial flavorings makes them feel better. We can all get enough satisfaction eating items enhanced with natural sweeteners (like stevia) so why not stick with those? And over time, even with my own experience, I realize I need less and less of a sweet taste to get that sweet satisfaction. Getting the artificial sweeteners out of your system clears the way for fruit to taste sweeter than you ever realized. That’s a gift from Mother Nature you can savor.

Cheers,

Peach Parfait

Layer, layer, layer. Yum, yum, yum!