The Diet Food That Could Be Making You Fat

Artificial sweeteners abound. Yet they have weird aftertastes, dubious effects on blood sugar and growing evidence shows that they may make you gain weight. WH breaks down the shaky future of substitutes – and what they could be doing to your waistline (and health) right this minute

- Michelle Stacey

With sugar on everyone’s “don’t” list (it’s now accused of causing not only weight gain, but possibly diabetes, cancer and heart disease) artificial sweetener use is soaring. We’re scarfing the stuff like never before: consumption of sugar substitutes surged by 54 percent between 1999 and 2012 (going up a startling 200 percent in kids) and demand is predicted to rise another five percent by 2020. Scientists are tinkering with new plant-based varieties that aim to be healthier and better-tasting than previous labcreated sweeteners and several are already on the market. All-natural and nearly zero kilojoules: what could possibly go wrong?

Experts are increasingly unsure of how to answer that question – or exactly what advice to give to their clients. “There’s a lot of confusion about sugar substitutes these days,” says nutritionist Ashley Koff. Despite the health halo crowning the new sweeteners – they come from leaves or fruit or some form of plant – a few things worry researchers: could they, like earlier sugar replacements, possibly make people gain weight? Is something still “natural” if it has been chemically altered and manipulated? Here’s what we know so far.

THE BACKSTORY

Alongside doo-wop and hula hoops, artificial sweeteners came of age in the 50s, promising weight loss through kilojoule reduction. They were also thought to be better for people with high blood-glucose levels, like diabetics or those with insulin resistance, because they helped them take in less sugar. Then, around the early 2000s, research began to suggest that sweeteners might promote weight gain and experts were mystified. Some assumed a psychological link – that if you know you’re saving kilojoules on your diet drink, you might subconsciously up your food intake.