Q & A: Do artificial sweeteners make people fat?
A: The short answer is: No. No is the answer to, Do artificial sweeteners make people fat.
Artificial sweeteners are called “nonnutritive sweeteners” because they don’t have calories. Adding something to your diet that doesn’t have calories can not make you gain weight. Replacing something with a lot of calories (regular soda) with a calorie-free version (diet soda) can not make you gain weight.
The research we have on what happens when we intervene by having people switch from regular soda to diet soda is that they lose a few pounds (2.3 pounds to be exact). This is what 20 different randomized, controlled trials say happens. 2.3 pounds isn’t a lot, but it’s also (clearly) not weight gained.
What about the new study?
A new study came out on with the conclusion that “NNS [artificial sweetener] consumers have lower diet quality in a large cohort of adults in the United States.” Furthermore the official press release for the study makes these claims:
- “at the highest level of artificial sweetener intake — four servings or more per day — people were 43% more likely to have a low-quality diet than people who didn’t use the sugar substitutes”
- “The research showed that as levels of artificial sweeteners rose, the overall quality of folks’ diets declined.”
With lines like these it’s reasonable to assume that (1) the researchers followed people over time to see what happens as artificial sweetener intake increased or decreased, (2) the researchers had uncovered an unambiguous answer to “what is diet quality?”, and (3) the researchers discovered the secrets to converting qualitative data (such as “diet quality”) into quantitative data (numbers that are easy to rank and compare).
Did they? (1) no, (2) no, (3) no.
The researchers did not follow anyone over any period of time. Subjects were part of another study and had filled in questionnaires about their dietary habits. (More on food frequency questionnaires.) They did find a correlation between their definition of “quality” and artificial sweetener consumption, but they also found many other correlations (that have been reported dozens, if not hundreds of times elsewhere… not newsworthy):
- people who are overweight have low scores on their “diet quality” formula
- people who are trying to lose weight often switch to diet soda to cut calories (because it works)
- people who are overweight compromise most of the group who is trying to lose weight
- this is reverse causation… meaning they got it ass backwards
Are you saying artificial sweeteners are “healthy”?
Do I think that someone can be “healthy” and consume artificial sweeteners? Yes. Do I think that you can tell how healthy someone is based on their artificial sweetener consumption? No. Do I think consuming an unlimited quantity of them is wise? No.
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Q&A: Are Avocados Healthy? Will they help with weight loss or liver health?
A: The short answers are: Sorta, no and no.
Healthy?
To be fair, it’s hard to call foods healthy or unhealthy. This is because no one food, or meal determines your health – it is the sum total of all that you eat, don’t eat, how much you eat, genetics, activity levels, etc.
Do avocados help weight loss?
No. Avocados are 85% fat by calories. This means it is higher in fat than the yummiest of all steaks, the ribeye, which is only 75% fat. Fat has more than double the calories per gram than either protein or carbohydrate. This means that each bite of avocado packs more than double the calories of fat-free Greek yogurt. So, you’d have to figure out how to feel full eating even less than half the total food volume you do now. This sounds like some version of hell.