washington using an artificial nocalorie sweetener rather than sugar may make it tougher not easier to lose weight us researchers said on sundayscientists at purdue university in west lafayette indiana studied rats that were fed food with the artificial sweetener saccharin and rats fed food with glucose a natural sugarin comparison to rats given yogurt sweetened with glucose those that ate yogurt sweetened with saccharin went on to consume more calories and put on more weight and body fat the researchers said sweet foods may prompt the body to get ready to take in a lot of calories but when sweetness in the form of artificial sweeteners is not followed by a large amount of calories the body gets confused which may lead to eating more or expending less energy than normalthe data clearly indicate that consuming a food sweetened with nocalorie saccharin can lead to greater bodyweight gain and adiposity than would consuming the same food sweetened with highcalorie sugar purdue researchers susan swithers and terry davidson wrote in the journal behavioral neuroscience published by the american psychological associationsuch an outcome may seem counterintuitive if not an anathema to human clinical researchers and health care practitioners who have long recommended the use of low and nocalorie sweeteners as a means of weight controlother artificial sweeteners such as aspartame that also taste sweet but do not lead to the delivery of calories may have similar effects the researchers said animals may use sweet taste to predict the caloric contents of food eating sweet noncaloric substances may degrade this predictive relationship they wrotewith the growing use of noncaloric sweeteners in the current food environment millions of people are being exposed to sweet tastes that are not associated with caloric or nutritive consequences the researchers addedthe research was the latest to examine the question of whether artificial sweeteners used in many soft drinks and other foods help or thwart those trying to lose weight various studies have offered mixed resultsthe new research drew criticism from the food industry this study oversimplifies the causes of obesity beth hubrich a dietician with the calorie control council an industry association representing companies that make low and reducedcalorie foods and beverages said in a statement the causes of obesity are multifactorial although surveys have shown that there has been an increase in the use of sugarfree foods over the years portion sizes of foods have also increased physical activity has decreased and overall calorie intake has increased hubrich added