Sweeteners Instead of Sugar Can Help Improve Weight Loss

Researchers say replacing sugar with sweeteners can help adults to lose weight. If we use sweeteners instead of sugar, there is no risk of type 2 diabetes or cardiovascular diseases. 

This new research was presented at European Congress on Obesity (ECO) in Venice, Italy. In this research, researchers have revealed how replacing sugar with low energy sweeteners helps weight control for at least one year after rapid weight loss in adults. 

This was a randomized control trial that was conducted for a year. This study involved 341 adults aged between 18 to 65 years and 38 children aged between 6 to 12 years. These participants were overweight and belonged from Denmark, Greece, Spain and The Netherlands. 

For the first 2 months, researchers asked participants to follow the Cambridge Weight Plan which is a low-energy diet. By using this plan, they wanted to make participants lose 5% of their weight.  

In the remaining 10 months, participants were divided into two groups as S&SE group and sugar group. The S&SE group was asked to follow a healthy diet with less than 10% of energy from added sugar and allowed foods and drinks with sweeteners and sweetness enhancers (S&SE). On the other hand, the sugar group was asked to follow a healthy diet with less than 10% of energy from added sugar and not allowed foods and drinks with S&SEs. 

The participants underwent clinical investigations at 2, 6 and 12 months of this research. These investigations were conducted to measure changes in weight, body mass index (BMI) in children, anthropometry, and risk factors for cardiovascular diseases and taype 2 diabetes such as glucose and hemoglobin. 

The results of this study showed that the S&SE group showed better weight loss than the sugar group. Additionally, for the participants who completed this clinical investigation, risk factors for type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular diseases were same for both groups. The BMI results of children were also the same for both groups. 

News Link:  

https://medicalxpress.com/news/2024-03-sugar-sweeteners-weight-loss-term.html