Sucrose activates human taste pathways differently from artificial sweetener.
As if there weren’t enough reasons to avoid artificial sweeteners already. It still amazes me how well they have permeated our society, and, even more frightening, is how readily our children have taken to their use. It is obvious from a common sense standpoint that putting artificial sweeteners into everything has done nothing to curb our growing rates of diabetes and obesity, and one could strongly argue that they have, in fact, contributed to the increasing incidence.
Altering gut flora, altering our appetite, blunting the thermogenic effect of eating… And now, we see that they affect an unconscious region of our brain that table sugar does not. Personally, I prefer to know what regions of my brain I’m stimulating when I eat.