Study: Artificial Sweeteners Make You Eat More, Sleep Less

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For decades artificial sweeteners have been a sugar substitute especially among Latinos who have diabetes, but according to a new study, sugar alternatives may cause people to eat more and sleep less, Univision reports.

For their research, investigators from Australia gave sucralose (a chemical present in many artificial sweeteners) to fruit flies and mice and discovered that both of these animals consumed more calories than those animals in a real sugar diet.

According to the investigators artificial sweeteners cause a neuronal disequilibrium when the brain is tricked into thinking the body is consuming real sugar but the calories are not existent; thus forcing the brain to send the message to the body to eat more.

“These results show us that food ‘sugar-free’ are not as good as we thought a few years ago. Artificial sweeteners can actually change how animals perceive the sweetness of their food and alter the taste, creating a neural disorder,” lead researcher Herbert Herzog de Garvan told Univision.

Researchers also found that sugar substitutes also disrupt the quality of sleep of individuals who consume it.

“In our system, a chronic diet with artificial sweetener puts animals in a fasting state. When animals are hungry, sleep quality is impaired because their bodies are receiving messages from the brain that have not eaten enough and should spend more awake time looking for food.”

Researchers recommend that individuals consume sucralose with moderation to avoid weight gain and sleepless nights.