Artificial sweeteners are slowly gaining notoriety for their potentially harmful side effects. While they are sugar substitutes, scientific studies have proven that they end up messing with a lot of body functions. Neuroscientist Dr. Andrew Huberman has often spoken about what artificial sweeteners bring to the table in various podcasts. However, this time, he wanted to focus on their effects on appetite.
In his recent podcast, he teamed up with Stanford and Johns Hopkins-trained physician Dr. Peter Attia to discuss the link between substance and phenomenon. Sweeteners like stevia, sucralose, and so on are present in beverages like diet soda and ironically contribute to weight fluctuations. But do they make one hungry?
The duo began talking about how, in the case of those susceptible, sweeteners often affect the gut microbiome negatively. This led to the neuroscientist pondering its effects on appetite. For instance, studies showed that diet sodas often had a counterproductive effect and led to weight gain. However, Dr. Huberman argued that for some, the beverage led to hunger pangs.
“There’s something about the perception of sweet as driving hunger, whereas not eating or drinking anything with any sweetness doesn’t seem to.”
What Dr. Huberman drew attention to was how often one associated the flavor or feeling of sweetness with food, so much so that it induced hunger. To this, Dr. Attia brought up an extensive study on sugar substitutes and their surrounding effects.
“The short of it is…there is indeed some sweeteners in some studies do result in that phenomenon you described, the cephalic insulin response.”
However, Dr. Attia’s key takeaways from the research were a bit unorthodox. While he ended up more puzzled than before, what he learned about artificial sweeteners that made him cautious was their impact on the brain and gut.
“These things can really be mucking around with both your brain chemistry and your gut chemistry, which can pertain to your metabolism. And therefore my takeaway was buy or beware.”
Dr. Andrew Huberman listed other downsides of artificial sweeteners
In a previous podcast with endocrinologist Dr. Robert Lustig, the neuroscientist delved deep into the impact of sweeteners on weight loss. Since the masses preferred substitutes over sugar for a low-calorie plan, he wanted to find out if it aided in cutting down on fat.
As it turns out, the results were shocking. Dr. Lustig revealed that a study conducted on 100 individuals showed that those who consumed diet soda saw an increase in weight of two kilos. Because of the link between sweeteners and insulin, the study observed a change in appetite. With Dr. Huberman’s recent observations, one could easily witness the negative impact of sweeteners.
