Popular artificial sweetener sucrose can disrupt appetite and make users to create hunger than consuming sugar, a new study was found.
Researchers at the University of Southern California found that Sucralos enhanced activity in the hypothalamus, the region in the brain is known to regulate hunger and body weight.
Although previous studies indicated a link between artificial sweetness and obesity, the exact mechanisms by which they affected hunger remained unclear.
In new studies, published in journal Nature metabolismResearchers tested how 75 participants – equally divided between male and woman – responded after consuming water, sweet with a drink sucrose, or a drink with regular sugar.
Each participant was tested with sucrose, sugar and water on three different occasions, so that researchers could seek the difference between individuals and between.
He collected FMRI brain scans, blood samples and self-reported hunger ratings from participants before and after consuming each drink.
Researchers found that Sucralose enhanced appetite as well as to increase activity in the hypothalamus of the brain, especially in people with obesity.
Artificial sweetener was also found by hypothalamus to change the way to communicate with other areas of the brain.
Researchers also observed that, unlike sugar, Sucralose did not increase the blood levels of some hormones, such as insulin and GLP -1 that create a sense of perfection.
Female participants showed a change in more brain activity than male participants, suggesting that sucrose can affect sexes differently.
Kathleen Alana Page, a co-author of the study, said, “The body uses these hormones so that you can tell the brain that you have consumed calories to reduce hunger. Sucralose did not have that effect.”
“If your body is expecting calories due to sweetness, but the calories do not get it, then it is hoping that the brain can change the way those substances have been prime to crave over time.”
Researchers also found that there was an increase in connectivity between hypothalamus and brain regions involved with motivation, sensory processing and decision making.
Based on these findings, researchers concluded that sucrose may affect craving or eating behavior. “These findings suggest that non-caloric sweetness can affect the major mechanisms in the hypothalamus responsible for hunger regulation,” the study states.
Researchers, however, were uncertain if the changes seen in the brain and hormone activity had no long -term effects. He said that further studies in a large population, including the participants’ body weight and food behavior, can help determine this link.
