Study Alleging Low-Calorie Sweeteners Causes Weight Gain Only Serves to Confuse Consumers

Okay by now I’m sure that most of you have heard about a new study from Purdue University alleging low-calorie sweeteners cause people to gain weight. It’s all over the place and the media is going crazy over the study because it’s “new,” “sexy” and “shocking.” On the other hand, the studies that have proven low-calorie sweeteners can absolutely help people with weight control are none of the adjectives described above – they are simply common sense.

As I’ve told you guys before I work on behalf of the Calorie Control Council (the “Council”). Naturally the Council has been inundated with media inquiries about this study. One of the more balanced pieces that I’ve read to date is the HealthDay News article (http://www.healthcentral.com/newsdetail/408/612564.html). It actually presented both sides of the story. I also loved this commentary on te ABC News Web site, from Dr. Keith-Thomas Ayoob, who notes, "This study has its share of weaknesses, such as studying a very small number of rats — as few as eight in some of the groups...There are a number of other flaws as well — enough to prevent drawing real conclusions from the results. What's more, these results contrast with other studies showing that rats do compensate for calories pretty well when there is no perceptible taste difference. "

Now I’m not here to try and convince every single person out there that this study is contradictory to numerous previous studies on the topic. I’m just here to present the facts, straight and to the point. Here are some real problems I see with this study and the way it's being presented by the media:

· This study was conducted on 27 rats. I don’t know about you but I don’t consider my body all that similar to a rat’s. This study has no relation to the human experience. You can’t take a study on rats and find direct relation to humans – that’s a shoddy approach.
· Rats love the taste of saccharin so obviously they’re going to eat more of it. Would you rather eat rat chow or saccharin? Give me the sweet stuff!
· This study has been taken out of context. Health professionals agree that weight gain is due to excess calories and light products can certainly be one tool in your toolbox as part of a weight control plan.
· The bottom line is that we are not rats and that caloric imbalance is what causes obesity.

You guys can decide to believe what you want. Like I said, all I want to do is point out the very biased way in which this study is being presented in the media.