Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Low-Calorie Sweetener Use and Risk of Abdominal Obesity Among Older Adults

journals.plos.org

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

11–20 of 53 posts

Re: Low-Calorie Sweetener Use and Risk of Abdominal Obesity Among Older Adults

#11

Post by ineedasername »

RandomInteger4 wrote: post #6

Unless you can show that low calories sweeteners are directly responsible for weight gain; i.e. somehow the sweeteners affect how food is metabolized, fat is stored, etc., then these studies don't really say much other than people who are unable to control their appetites are unable to control their appetites. Low calorie sweeteners are still a better option than sucrose with respect to flavoring. In terms of annecda…

Yes. The failure to even mention, much less account for the selection bias that may come in to play here means the correlation may be used to recommend precisely the opposite of the healthy choice.

Re: Low-Calorie Sweetener Use and Risk of Abdominal Obesity Among Older Adults

#12

Post by lucas_membrane »

nostromo wrote: post #5

This seems incredibly weak because they haven't shown causation -- or, in particular, disproved reverse causation. (That people struggling with weight gain are more likely to use sugar substitutes.) This is more of a "huh, someone should do additional research" paper than anything conclusive.

I remember seeing an article maybe a couple of months ago that turned up a possible cause / mechanism that operates via the liver, IIRC. If I read it correctly, this paper reports only a small average effect, just a small fraction of the difference between obesity and normal weight. But that is just an average effect, it might be that the artificial sweeteners have no effect on most but a large effect on a few.

Re: Low-Calorie Sweetener Use and Risk of Abdominal Obesity Among Older Adults

#13

Post by lucas_membrane »

ineedasername wrote: post #7
nostromo wrote: post #5

This seems incredibly weak because they haven't shown causation -- or, in particular, disproved reverse causation. (That people struggling with weight gain are more likely to use sugar substitutes.) This is more of a "huh, someone should do additional research" paper than anything conclusive.

Came here to make exactly this point. It seems like the people already slim and petite are less likely to be drawn to such artificial additives, whereas many/most overweight people would at least be trying some "bare minimum" weight management through them.

Yes, this shows how hard science can be. Studies have shown both that people who consume artificial sweeteners tend to gain a little weight (like this study) and that people who lose a lot of weight tend to be above-average consumers of artificial sweeteners. Best hope is that chemistry can untangle the mess.

Re: Low-Calorie Sweetener Use and Risk of Abdominal Obesity Among Older Adults

#14

Post by jpatokal »

Totally unscientific theory: sweeteners are to sugar what methadone is to heroin. If you're using them, you're still craving/addicted to sugar and your palate remains out of whack, so you're probably also drawn to sugary foods that don't use sweeteners (eg. most commercial pasta sauce, ketchup, fruit juice, many breads).

Re: Low-Calorie Sweetener Use and Risk of Abdominal Obesity Among Older Adults

#19

Post by killjoywashere »

lucas_membrane wrote: post #13
ineedasername wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Came here to make exactly this point. It seems like the people already slim and petite are less likely to be drawn to such artificial additives, whereas many/most overweight people would at least be trying some "bare minimum" weight management through them.

Yes, this shows how hard science can be. Studies have shown both that people who consume artificial sweeteners tend to gain a little weight (like this study) and that people who lose a lot of weight tend to be above-average consumers of artificial sweeteners. Best hope is that chemistry can untangle the mess.

Not only all the above, but where's the head-to-head comparison with sucrose (layman's 'sugar')-sweetened beverages?
Post reply on HN