Aspartame Proven to Help Reduce Weight – Ajinomoto
Scientists in the US studied 27 rats fed food sweetened with saccharin and rats fed food sweetened with glucose, and found that the rats that ingested saccharin went on to consume more calories and put on more weight and body fat.
26/02/08 The significant body of scientific evidence, which demonstrates the benefit of using aspartame for weight control and weight maintenance, contradicts claims suggesting that low calorie sweeteners lead to weight gain, aspartame supplier Ajinomoto has said.
Recent reports follow a small-scale study on rats published in the journal Behavioural Neuroscience. Scientists at Purdue University in the United States studied 27 rats fed food sweetened with saccharin and rats fed food sweetened with glucose, and found that the rats that ingested saccharin went on to consume more calories and put on more weight and body fat.
While research in this area has been based on human studies for more than twenty years, the Purdue study is based on a small sample of rats. It does not necessarily follow that findings in rats are applicable in humans. In fact, evidence obtained from a broad range of human studies points to the opposite conclusion.
A meta-analysis of 16 human studies conducted by de la Hunty et al, published in 2006, concluded that "using foods and drinks sweetened with aspartame instead of sucrose results in a significant reduction in both energy intakes (calories) and body weight".
The study, published in Nutrition Bulletin, shows that by choosing one serving of soft drink with aspartame each day (in place of a serving of regular soft drink), a person could reduce their body weight by five kilograms over the course of a year.
By continuing to provide a well-liked, sweet taste, without the calories of sugar, aspartame can play a pivotal role in the fight against obesity and its associated diseases, Ajinomoto write.
