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from the low-cal-sweetener-makes-you-fat? dept.
A report posted to PLoS|ONE suggests low-calorie sweetener use may not be an effective means of weight control. The full article is available at that link; here is the abstract:
Introduction
Low-calorie sweetener use for weight control has come under increasing scrutiny as obesity, especially abdominal obesity, remain entrenched despite substantial low-calorie sweetener use. We evaluated whether chronic low-calorie sweetener use is a risk factor for abdominal obesity.
Participants and Methods
We used 8268 anthropometric measurements and 3096 food diary records with detailed information on low-calorie sweetener consumption in all food products, from 1454 participants (741 men, 713 women) in the Baltimore Longitudinal Study of Aging collected from 1984 to 2012 with median follow-up of 10 years (range: 0–28 years). At baseline, 785 were low-calorie sweetener non-users (51.7% men) and 669 participants were low-calorie sweetener users (50.1% men). Time-varying low-calorie sweetener use was operationalized as the proportion of visits since baseline at which low-calorie sweetener use was reported. We used marginal structural models to determine the association between baseline and time-varying low-calorie sweetener use with longitudinal outcomes—body mass index, waist circumference, obesity and abdominal obesity—with outcome status assessed at the visit following low-calorie sweetener ascertainment to minimize the potential for reverse causality. All models were adjusted for year of visit, age, sex, age by sex interaction, race, current smoking status, dietary intake (caffeine, fructose, protein, carbohydrate, and fat), physical activity, diabetes status, and Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension score as confounders.
Results
With median follow-up of 10 years, low-calorie sweetener users had 0.80 kg/m2 higher body mass index (95% confidence interval [CI], 0.17–1.44), 2.6 cm larger waist circumference (95% CI, 0.71–4.39), 36.7% higher prevalence (prevalence ratio = 1.37; 95% CI, 1.10–1.69) and 53% higher incidence (hazard ratio = 1.53; 95% CI 1.10–2.12) of abdominal obesity than low-calorie sweetener non-users.
Conclusions
Low-calorie sweetener use is independently associated with heavier relative weight, a larger waist, and a higher prevalence and incidence of abdominal obesity suggesting that low-calorie sweetener use may not be an effective means of weight control.
I'm curious if there was a difference in outcome based on which low-calorie sweetener was used. Here they lumped (pun intended) them all together:
Low-calorie sweetener consumption was noted when consumption of food or drink containing low-calorie sweetener (aspartame, saccharin, acesulfame potassium, or sucralose) was recorded in the dietary record. This collection method identified low-calorie sweeteners found in all food products, not just diet soda.
Separately, does anyone know if the use of artificial sweeteners reduces the risk of dental cavities?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday December 09 2018, @03:46AM (9 children)
I like having an energy drink every now and then. Should I drink the 290 calorie one or the sucralose one?
Why aren't there unsweetened energy drinks? Why can't we just add caffeine to those flavor waters? Not everything needs to taste sweet.
(Score: 2) by takyon on Sunday December 09 2018, @04:30AM (4 children)
Unsweetened tea. Plenty of brands, and most of them taste good and refreshing IMO. There should be some vending machines that dispense them.
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(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday December 09 2018, @04:32AM (3 children)
Read the labels. Most of those iced teas have added sugar in them. (Probably HFCS in the USA.)
(Score: 3, Informative) by takyon on Sunday December 09 2018, @04:39AM (2 children)
No, I am talking about unsweetened teas that are labeled as such. Not your typical Lipton with sugar and lemon.
Specifically, I bought Tejava [tejava.com] in the last year. But there's also unsweetened versions from Teavana, Gold Peak, Lipton itself, Pure Leaf, and others [walmart.com].
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(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday December 09 2018, @10:37PM (1 child)
Nice. It looks like you get a better selection than we do.
If you want sugarfree here in oz you get artificial sweeteners, bottled water, or have to find some obscure brand in a health food shop.
(Score: 2) by takyon on Sunday December 09 2018, @11:08PM
How about the unsweetened soda/seltzer waters that are all the rage [convenience.org] with [qz.com] millennials [usatoday.com] right now?
If you or OP are just looking for caffeine, maybe it's time to put caffeine pills [healthline.com] on the table as an option. I used to take multiple 200mg pills for a while, but I would probably dial it down to 100mg if I did it again. Caffeine pills + home filtered water poured into reusable bottle is probably the cheapest option of all (no, I don't mean crushing up the pills and sticking them in the water, just using them at the same time).
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(Score: 3, Insightful) by takyon on Sunday December 09 2018, @04:31AM (1 child)
There are also some caffeinated water brands out there:
https://goavitae.com/ [goavitae.com]
https://waterjoe.com/ [waterjoe.com]
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(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday December 09 2018, @05:17PM
Thanks!
(Score: 2) by MichaelDavidCrawford on Sunday December 09 2018, @11:58AM
I react very, very badly to excess sugar. One had Mom totally freaking as I had her convinced I had Juvenile Diabetes.
I've never had either variety, but even so, eating too much sugar all at once makes my ability to participate in a class into a smoking crater in the ground.
Yes I Have No Bananas. [gofundme.com]
(Score: 2) by ledow on Monday December 10 2018, @08:28AM
Energy drinks probably can.
It's carbonation that's part of the problem. Carbonation makes things taste like crap. The only way to really combat it is to sweeten the drink to cancel it out. This is why Coke/Pepsi are famous, they were one of the first to make a carbonated drink that actually doesn't taste like crap. This is the only reason you can make frozen slushy drinks (Slush Puppies / snowcone depending on your hemisphere) from them - they have to have sugar in order to be made into that kind of drink or you end up with either an ice cube or a cold liquid.
The problem you have - you want an "energy" drink, what energy do you think there is in any drink? If you want caffeine, swallow a caffeine tablet. If you want a drink, drink water. What you want is a caffeine tablet in water and it'll taste like crap, so it'll be sweetened. If the drink is fizzy, they'll sweeten it even more. But for sure, without either fat or a sugar in them, there's no significant "energy" whatsoever. They probably couldn't even call it that.
Having caffeine in a energy-less, sugar-less drink is basically just a body deprivation waiting to happen and any kind of regular use would just make you feel strung out AND lethargic, or hungry.