Artificial Sweeteners Making You Hungry??

Here's a great little article (compliments of Karen Taylor ;-) for those of you who have asked about artificial sweeteners. And remember, even though this article refers to sodas, artificial sweeteners are in many other products as well.

If an item tastes sweet but has zero to few sugar grams listed, chances are there are artificial sweeteners (check the ingredients - there's also a list following this article of the names that artificial sweeteners can be disguised as.)

A study on how diet sodas can affect your brain Do you, like thousands of others, drink diet sodas to control calorie consumption? A 2012 study suggests that it may be time to reconsider the role of artificial sweeteners in your life. In a paper published in the journal Physiology & Behavior, researchers found that diet soda — along with other artificially sweetened foods — may sabotage weight-loss plans by changing how the brain’s reward center responds. This study out of the University of California, San Diego split 24 young adults into two groups: one group drank at least one serving of diet soda every day, while the other avoided artificially sweetened drinks. After several weeks, participants had theirbrains scanned while they switched between drinking naturally and artificially sweetened water. This allowed researchers to track exactly how the brain responded to sweeteners. The brains of the adults who had consumed diet soda regularly responded very differently from those of non-drinkers, notably in brain areas related to reward. And the more participants had drunk, the more pronounced this difference. According to researchers Green and Murphy, “[Diet soda drinkers] who consumed a greater number of diet sodas had reduced caudate head activation. These findings may provide some insight into the link between diet soda consumption and obesity.” How artificial sweeteners confuse your brain The caudate head is a part of the brain involved in controlling food intake and signaling reward — a kind of mental red light that says “enough!” Decreased caudate head activity in diet soda drinkers suggests that this careful reward system was thrown off. Researchers posit that consuming diet soda confused the caudate head’s normal reward processing behavior: because sweet tastes didn’t always signal incoming energy, the brain trained itself to dampen its reactions. These inaccurate caloric predictions made diet soda drinkers more likely to consume additional calorieslater in the day. Small choices can affect your brain While further research remains to be done, this findings provide insight into how simple lifestyle choices can influence your brain. Inundate your brain with artificial sweeteners, and it responds in one way — but give it positive, stimulating experiences, and it could respond in another. Various other studies have found positive changes in the brain as a result of regular exercise, proper sleep, and many other factors. So pick your habits wisely, for your body and your brain!

Artificial Sweeteners - and names they can be disguised as:

ACESULFAME POTASSIUM
ACK
Ace K
Equal Spoonful (also +aspartame)
Sweet One
Sunett

ASPARTAME
APM
AminoSweet (but not in US)
Aspartyl-phenylalanine-1-methyl ester
Canderel (not in US)
Equal Classic
NatraTaste Blue
NutraSweet

ASPARTAME-ACESULFAME SALT
TwinSweet (Europe only)

CYCLAMATE
Not in US as per FDA
Calcium cyclamate
Cologran = cyclamate and saccharin; not in US
Sucaryl

ERYTHRITOL
Sugar alcohol
Zerose
ZSweet

GLYCEROL
Glycerin
Glycerine

GLYCYRRHIZIN
Licorice

HYDROGENATED STARCH HYDROLYSATE (HSH)
Sugar alcohol

ISOMALT
Sugar alcohol
ClearCut Isomalt
Decomalt
DiabetiSweet (also contains Acesulfame-K)
Hydrogenated Isomaltulose
Isomaltitol

LACTITOL
Sugar alcohol

MALTITOL
Sugar alcohol
Maltitol Syrup
Maltitol Powder
Hydrogenated High Maltose Content Glucose Syrup
Hydrogenated Maltose
Lesys
MaltiSweet (hard to find online to buy)
SweetPearl

MANNITOL
Sugar alcohol

NEOTAME

POLYDEXTROSE
Sugar alcohol
(Derived from glucose and sorbitol)

SACCHARIN
Acid saccharin
Equal Saccharin
Necta Sweet
Sodium Saccharin
Sweet N Low
Sweet Twin

SORBITOL
Sugar alcohol
D-glucitol
D-glucitol syrup

SUCRALOSE
1',4,6'-Trichlorogalactosucrose
Trichlorosucrose
Equal Sucralose
NatraTaste Gold
Splenda

TAGATOSE
Natrulose

XYLITOL
Sugar alcohol
Smart Sweet
Xylipure

Xylosweet