Added sugars play a major role in weight gain, which is why non-nutritive sweeteners (NNS) are so popular throughout the diet industry. According to the American Heart Association, NNS “may be low in calories or have no calories” but “offer no nutritional benefits such as vitamins and minerals.”

But do NSS actually help with weight loss? From a pure “calories in, calories out” standpoint they seem like they would, but pulling back the curtain leads to a very different conclusion. Let’s take a look.

1. The compensation effect

   Many people think that by “saving calories” they can “spend” those calories on other foods, often making up for, and even exceeding, the calorie deficit from NNS.

   A human study showed just how strong the compensation effect can be: Two different groups were given the same exact brownies. One was told the brownies were indulgent; the other was told they were low-calorie. After eating, the group who believed they were given low-calorie brownies had more ghrelin (hunger hormone) circulating in their blood – a clearly physical manifestation of psychological origins.

   The compensation effect may happen because NNS activate our sweet taste receptors, making the brain think the body is about to be fed. However, when it realizes it’s not actually getting anything nutritious, it sends us looking for nourishment elsewhere to compensate.

2. NNS blunt our appreciation for natural sweeteners and can create an insatiable sweet tooth, leaving us with unrealistic expectations for sweetness

   NNS are generally a lot sweeter than typical cane sugar. For example, Monk Fruit is 10-250 times sweeter, Truvia is 200-300 times sweeter, and Splenda is 600 times sweeter that traditional sugar. 

   Therefore, NNS adulterate our standards of sweetness and compel us to either continuously choose NNS or use an excessive amount of sugar to satisfy our sweet tooth cravings.

   To understand why this is an issue, please try this at home: Put out 2 grapes and a can of Diet Coke. Eat one grape before taking a sip of your Diet Coke and the other one afterwards. You should notice that once you sip the Diet Coke, you can barely taste the sweetness of the second grape.

3. Intake of certain NNS can potentially disrupt metabolism

   Prolonged exposure to NNS may impair our ability to control blood sugar after eating glucose-containing foods (e.g., a bowl of fruit). We experience blood sugar spikes, which task the pancreas to pump out insulin at high levels. (Insulin is the hormone responsible for bringing down blood sugar levels by transporting the glucose from the blood into the body’s cells.) As this continues, the body becomes insulin resistant, causing sugar to build up in the blood.

   Aside from causing insulin resistance, blood sugar spikes and elevated insulin levels can cause weight gain because when excess sugar enters the cells, it is subsequently stored as fat.

4. Use of NNS impairs gut health, and poor gut health has been tied to weight gain

   NNS intake has been shown to disrupt the colonization of probiotics (good bacteria) in the gut.

   Gut health is extremely important, not just for weight loss, but for promoting digestive regularity, preventing certain cancers, reducing inflammation, boosting immunity, and has even been shown to help with psychological distress. All of that could be compromised from continuous use of NNS.

5. NNS don’t actually help you build healthy eating habits, which are essential for sustained weight loss

   Successful long-term weight loss is premised on healthy habits, not short-term short-cuts. Using NNS to turn “indulgent foods” into “diet foods” is a short-cut. It teaches us how to replace indulgent foods instead of how to indulge responsibly.

   However, learning how to indulge responsibly is essential to achieve sustained weight loss. You can have your full-fat, sugar-filled cookie and still lose weight, but only if you develop the healthy habits around eating it.

While all of this may seem disappointing, the good news is that the 4Q Method provides a path to long-term weight loss without NNS. And for those who are dependent on NNS, the 4Q Method can help you simultaneously achieve your weight loss goals and put an end to your dependence on NNS. We do this through a guided approach of tapering NNS and eventually integrating limited use of unrefined sugar.

The reality is, relying on processed ingredients, such as NNS, always carries some risk. This is exactly what happened during the IMO fiber scandal, and will likely keep happening so long as people depend on artificial ingredients. At the 4Q Method, we don’t believe it is worth the risk when you can successfully lose weight without them.