How sugar harms you (and why artificial sweeteners are no better)

I know the sugar debate has come up on this board countless times but this article really made me think about sugar, HFCS and makes some good points about artifical sweeteners:

http://www.womenshealthmag.com/nutrition/how- sugar-harms-you?page=1

..."And if getting too many calories is what worries you, reaching for a Sprite Zero isn't the solution: Artificial sweeteners may be almost as bad for you as HFCS. In 2004, a study published in the International Journal of Obesity found that rats ate more after consuming an artificially sweetened drink than they did after sipping sugar water. Researchers speculate that calorie-free artificial sweeteners act like stomach teasers: As you swallow diet soda, your body anticipates the arrival of calories. When they don't show up, your body sends you looking elsewhere for them, often in a snack bowl. A 2005 study by researchers from the University of Texas found that people who drank a can of diet soda per day had a 37 percent greater incidence of obesity. And because artificial sweeteners are often many times sweeter than sugar, stirring a teaspoonful into your daily cup of joe may mean that when you do use real sugar, it just doesn't taste sweet enough for you, sending you grabbing extra sugar packets."

Thanks for posting such an in-depth article! It is very interesting. I would have never guessed Pop Tarts have less sugar than Cliff bars!

I used to drink about 4 cans of soda a day [when I was super thin! figures.]... but I cut it all out almost three years ago, and have never looked back. I have tried a few sips since then, and was disgusted by how terrible it tasted. I was quite surprised..

 

I'm the same way. I can't even drink soda anymore!

I keep reading this on the forums and in linked articles- the "your body is expecting sugar calories and not getting any and so it makes your body get it from somewhere else" - but I just haven't experienced it.  I use anywhere from 3-5 packets of Equal a day, and I feel no need to seek out additional snacks after my morning coffee or oatmeal.  I lost weight using artificial sweetener, and now continue to maintain rather successfully in doing so.

Does the amount of sweetener factor into this?

I noticed a difference. I used to eat a regular breakfast in the morning (oatmeal or cereal or eggs, whatever) at 6 am, plus a coffee with 2 Splenda packets and milk when I got to work. I would always feel hungry before 9 am. Since I cut out Splenda, I usually don't think about eating again until at least 10 and then I'm not "starving" like I used to be. I was only a casual sweetener user though. Some people consume a cup a day of that stuff!

I dunno, I didn't read the article, but I'm inclined to call shenanigans.  There is a correlation between obesity and drinking diet soda - but that doesn't make it causation.  It's more likely that obese people try first to cut back on calories by switching to diet soda, so that obesity is the cause of diet soda drinking, not the result. 

Also, your body does measure calories, in terms of how much it decides to consume.  It seems natural that a person would eat less after consuming real sugar - they got some fuel out of the real sugar, so they're not as compelled to eat as much fuel later.

cellophane_star - are you drinking coffee still, only now with real sugar?  Or did you cut out caffeine too?  Either your now-natural-sugar consumption is tiding you over until 10, or at about 9am you experienced a caffeine crash that led your body to believe it was hungry.  Both I find more believable than "fake sugar made you physically more hungry."

But I may be basing this too much on personal experience, too - I drink tea with artificial sweeteners in it while I'm at work, at the most I've felt is supremely hydrated with frequent trips to the bathroom

Ok, now I'm going to go read the article, and maybe come back here and recant all the things I just said.

 

EDIT:  Ok, the article isn't half-bad, and it's true that sugar is far more overt in our diets than it ever used to be, and that it does contribute directly to obesity trends.  It's just the anti-sweetener bit is misleading, and without citation.  It's a women's journal, though, not a scientific research journal, so I can't be too demanding there :)  It gets big points for, overall, being accurate and interesting.

DOUBLE EDIT:  ha HA!  I kicked butt at their sugar quiz, too XD  I pay way too much attention to what kinds of sugars are in my foods :P

I used to get a tall coffee every work day, with milk and 2 Splenda packets. Now I alternate between making my own chai or black tea with 2 cane sugar cubes, getting a skim vanilla latte with only 2 pumps of regular syrup (not sugar free syrup, which has sucralose), or I get a smaller cup of coffee and add real sugar to it. So I don't think the caffeine was the culprit.

Maybe the sweetener isn't to blame for the 9 am hunger. I am eating more protein and calories at breakfast than before (cals: 300 before, 350-500 now and protein: 7 g before now ~15-20 g)...So saying "Fake sugar made me physically more hungry" may be a little short sighted but I don't want to take ALL the blame away from it. I just prefer limiting my real sugar consumption instead of using more fake sugar. It makes me feel healthier!