BATON ROUGE, La.—Replacing sugar with no-calorie sweeteners promotes the same feeling of fullness as the white, caloric rival, according to a new study. New research from the Pennington Biomedical Research Center found people who consume stevia or aspartame rather than sugar do not compensate by eating more at either lunch or dinner (Appetite. 2010 Aug;55(1):37-43). Further, they reported similar levels of satiety compared to when they consumed the higher calorie sucrose.
The researchers noted consumption of sugar-sweetened beverages may be one of the dietary causes of metabolic disorders, such as obesity. Therefore, substituting sugar with low-calorie sweeteners may be an efficacious weight-management strategy.
They tested the effect of preloads containing stevia, aspartame or sucrose on food intake, satiety, and postprandial glucose and insulin levels in 19 healthy lean (with a body mass index [BMI] of 20.0 to 24.9) and 12 obese (with a BMI from 30.0 to 39.9) individuals who were 18 to 50 years old. Participants completed three separate food test days during which they received preloads containing stevia (with 290 calories), aspartame (with 290 calories) or sucrose (with 493 calories) before lunch and dinner. The preload order was balanced, and they calculated how many calories each participate ate. Hunger and satiety levels were reported before and after meals, and every hour throughout the afternoon. Additionally, participants provided blood samples immediately before and 20 minutes after the lunch preload.
Despite the caloric difference in preloads (290 calories vs. 493 calories), participants did not compensate by eating more at their lunch and dinner meals when they consumed either stevia or aspartame versus sucrose in preloads. Those who had the stevia preload consumed a mean of 301 fewer calories than sucrose (P<.01), and those who had the aspartame preload consumed a mean of 330 fewer calories than sucrose (P<.01). Self-reported hunger and satiety levels also did not differ between the groups.
Stevia significantly reduced postprandial glucose levels compared to sucrose preloads (P<.01), faired better than both aspartame and sucrose when it came to reducing postprandial insulin levels (P<.05).
