Our desire for something that tastes sweet starts at birth and continues throughout life. Sweet foods and drinks taste good. How can you have the foods and drinks you crave but skip the calories? Low-calorie sweeteners offer a low- or no-calorie alternative to sugar or other sweeteners that have calories – lots of calories. But can using low calorie sweeteners help you achieve and maintain a healthy weight?
Substituting low-calorie sweeteners in just these three beverages saved over 700 calories. Using low-calorie sweeteners allows you to have the sweet taste you crave without all the calories. A group of noted scientists recently got together to look at all of the evidence. Their goal was to answer the question – can using low calorie sweeteners help you lose weight? After careful examination of many studies they concluded that using low calorie sweeteners, such as those in diet drinks and other sugar-free products, could help with weight loss.
Bottom line – using low-calorie sweeteners is one strategy to help you achieve and maintain your weight loss goals, provided that you choose healthy foods to go along with your diet cola.
For more information on Low Calorie Sweeteners and Weight, visit:
Low Calorie Sweeteners and Weight Gain – Do diet drinks make you fat?
Can diet drinks help with childhood obesity?
REFERENCES
Anderson GH, Foreyt J, Sigman-Grant M, Allison DB. The use of low-calorie sweeteners by adults: impact on weight management. J Nutr. SUBMITTED
Bellisle F, Drewnowski A, Anderson GH, Westerterp-Plantenga M, Martin CK. Sweetness, satiation, and satiety. J Nutr. SUBMITTED
Raben A, Vasilaras TH, Moller AC, Astrup A. Sucrose compared with artificial sweeteners: different effects on ad libitum food intake and body weight after 10 wk of supplementation in overweight subjects. Am J Clin Nutr. 2002;76(4):721-729
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