Artificial sweeteners commonly used in low -calorie lemonades and food They can fool the brain and lead to a higher consumption of foodsuggests new research. People who drink light drinks and consume foods with artificial sweeteners are more often overeating and are obese. The interconnection of hunger centers and saturation in their brain is changing.
Scientists from the University of Southern California found that Eating a conventional artificial sweetener increases activity in hungry brain centers. According to them, this leads to the body because of the brain expects calorie intake, but it will never come. This mismatch can lead to a greater desire for food. Paradoxically, the effect is the strongest for obese individuals who usually drink drinks with artificial sweeteners in an effort to lose weight.
“If your body is expecting a calorie because of a sweet taste but does not get it, it may change the way the brain is set to the desire for these substances,” explained Research author Dr. Kathleen Alanna Page. The results of her study were published by Nature Metabolism.
Each participant of the study underwent brain scanning by functional magnetic resonance imaging, donated blood samples and filled the questionnaire about hunger before and after consuming each drink. Brain images show that After consumption of sucralosis, there was an increased activity in a part of the brain called a hypothalamus that regulates the basic processes of the body, including temperature, fatigue and above all hunger.
Scientists have also found that sucralose has intensified the connection between the hypothalamus and other areas of the brain responsible for motivation and decision -making. This effect was particularly strong in obese people. Blood tests have resulted in another possible mechanism by which sucralosis can affect appetite. When the participants drank a drink with ordinary sugar, scientists observed that the body began to produce hormones that naturally suppress hunger.
However, these hormones were missing after consumption of sucralosis. “The body uses these hormones to give the brain a signal that it accepted calories, leading to a reduction in hunger. Sucralosis did not have this effect – and the differences in the hormonal response were even more pronounced in obese participants,” supplies a page.
