WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - A new study from the University of Southern California (USC) revealed that sucralose, a widely used artificial sweetener, may deceive the brain by activating hunger-related pathways in the hypothalamus without providing the expected calories.
Kathleen Alanna Page, director of the USC Diabetes and Obesity Research Institute, led the study to investigate how sugar substitutes affect the brain and body across different individuals.
Page and her team conducted a randomized study involving 75 participants of varying body weights (healthy weight, overweight, and obese). Each participant visited the lab three times and consumed one of the following: plain water, a sugar-sweetened drink, or a sucralose-sweetened drink.
The researchers measured brain activity using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), collected blood samples, and recorded hunger ratings before and after consumption.
According to the study, published in Nature Metabolism, participants who drank water sweetened with sucralose reported nearly a 20 percent increase in appetite compared to those who consumed water with regular sugar. The research also found that sucralose alters how the hypothalamus interacts with other brain regions, including those linked to motivation and reward.
'If your body is expecting a calorie because of the sweetness, but doesn't get the calorie it's expecting, that could change the way the brain is primed to crave those substances over time,' Page said.
Further, the results showed that sucralose increased activity in the hypothalamus, especially in participants with obesity, while also changing its communication with other brain regions. Unlike sugar, sucralose did not trigger the release of key hormones that signal fullness, potentially leading to increased cravings and altered eating behaviors over time.
These findings suggested that the brain expects caloric energy when experiencing a sweet taste, and when that expectation is not met, it may increase hunger signals.
Building on these results, the researchers have launched a follow-up study examining how calorie-free sweeteners affect the developing brains of children and adolescents, the age group that consumes the highest amounts of sugar and sugar substitutes.
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