Study finds artificial sweeteners linked to diabetes, obesity

Washington DC: Artificial sweeteners may seem like they can be one answer to diabetes and effective weight loss, but a recent study suggests that you may want to rethink.

The research found that sugar replacements could also cause health changes that were linked with diabetes and obesity, suggesting that switching from regular to diet soda might be a case of 'out of the frying pan, into the fire.'

The study is the largest examination to date that tracks biochemical changes in the body--using an approach known as unbiased high-throughput metabolomics--after consumption of sugar or sugar substitutes.

Researchers also looked at impacts on vascular health by studying how the substances affect the lining of blood vessels. The studies were conducted in rats and cell cultures.

"Despite the addition of these non-caloric artificial sweeteners to our everyday diets, there has still been a drastic rise in obesity and diabetes," said lead researcher Brian Hoffmann. "In our studies, both sugar and artificial sweeteners seem to exhibit negative effects linked to obesity and diabetes, albeit through very different mechanisms from each other."

So, which is worse, sugar or artificial sweeteners? Researchers cautioned that the results didn't provide a clear answer and the question warranted a further study. It is well known that high dietary sugar was linked to negative health outcomes and the study suggested artificial sweeteners did, too.

The research will be presented at the American Physiological Society annual meeting during the 2018 Experimental Biology meeting, held April 21-25 in San Diego.