The Skinny About Sweeteners

I am often asked about which sweeteners are safe and which ones can be effectively used to assist with weight loss and maintenance.  It has been long in coming, but I finally put it all together in my article "The Skinny About Sweeteners". You can find it at The Arizona Bariatric Institute website under Recommended Links.

Integrated Blog with Website!

After struggling for a few weeks, I figured out how to integrate my blog into my bariatric website.  Just a little reading about "iframes" solved the question and there it is.

The website is a work in progress.  My hope is to help people successfully lose weight and give people an edge up on the dietary treatment of obesity.

Let me know what you think.  I would love to make it a user friendly place for answers.

Patient Survey on EHR Issues

Is Your Diet Soda Making You Fat?

Is your diet pop causing you to gain weight?  It is very possible. There have been a number of small studies linking some of the artificial sweeteners to weight gain. The most recent of these studies was completed by Ganesh Halade, Ph.D., Gabriel Fernandes, Ph.D., the senior author and professor of rheumatology and clinical immunology, and Sharon P. Fowler, M.P.H., in the Division of Clinical Epidemiology. They studied the relationship between oral exposure to aspartame (NutraSweet) and fasting glucose and insulin levels in 40 diabetes-prone mice. Aspartame is an artificial sweetener widely used in diet sodas and other products. 
After three months, the mice that were fed aspartame with a high fat diet had a notable increase in glucose levels but a decrease in insulin levels compared to those mice fed only a diet high in fat.  These results imply that the aspartame stimulates a decline in pancreatic beta-cell function, the cells responsible for production of insulin.   This may explain the sudden rise in diabetes we have seen over the last 40 years.  Heavy intake of aspartame in humans potentially leads to diabetes.  Increased glucose levels leads to increased need fro insulin and if the aspartame is suppressing the beta-cell function, this will cause overload of the pancreas, increased obesity, and eventually progression to diabetes. 
Other studies commented on in the recent conference of the American Diabetes Association have shown that the use of diet soda in general increases thirst and sensation of hunger that stimulates overeating.
So, what can you and I do about it? Well, for starters.  Don't order that diet pop with your meal.  Second, increase your water intake.  Most of us don't drink enough water anyway.  You should be drinking at least eight 8oz glasses of water per day.  Third, be careful with other low carbohydrate foods that are sweetened with aspartame (NutraSweet).  Stay tuned for more information on sweeteners.  Upcoming blog posts will contain the good, bad and ugly on specific sweeteners. 
Until then, stay healthy!
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