Artificial sweeteners reason behind most obesity, diabetes: Study

New Delhi : Diet soft drinks trick your mind to make you fatter and even more prone to diabetes, claims a new study.

The body has been designed in a way to consume more calories when something sweet is pushed in it. But diet products confuses mind and creates a fake image that there are few calories in bodies.

The process decreases body's metabolism, resulting in storage of more fat inside the body, say researchers at Yale University in the US.

Senior author of the study, which has been published in the journal Current Biology, Professor Dana Small said: “A calorie is not a calorie.

“When sweet taste and energy are not matched, less energy is metabolised and inaccurate signals go to the brain. Either may affect metabolic health.”

The study was performed on a set of 15 people who consumed diet drinks and others who drank regular ones. In nothing less than a shocker to many, the results were opposite to what people believe. 

Batch with diet soft drink consumption resulted in eating more as their brain did not register calorie count.

“Our bodies evolved to efficiently use the energy sources available in nature,” Prof Small told Yale News.

“Our modern food environment is characterised by energy sources our bodies have never seen before.”

However, not everyone is convinced.

Professor Tom Sanders, of King’s College London, said: “Saying a calorie is not a calorie is gobbledegook.”