{"id":347,"date":"2019-12-17T19:44:25","date_gmt":"2019-12-17T19:44:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/digitalprojects.davidson.edu\/writingscience\/?p=347"},"modified":"2020-02-14T15:12:09","modified_gmt":"2020-02-14T15:12:09","slug":"artificial-sweeteners-cause-weight-gain","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/digitalprojects.davidson.edu\/writingscience\/post-1-spring-2019\/artificial-sweeteners-cause-weight-gain\/","title":{"rendered":"Artificial Sweeteners Cause Weight Gain"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">R. Fenner\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">People who suffer from obesity and chronic weight gain are affected by multiple factors.Genetics, a weakened thyroid, meager diet, and poor lifestyle choices can all increase body weight, but the role of artificial sweeteners is often overlooked. In past decades, organizations such as the American Cancer Society have performed correlational studies that indicate weight gain and artificial sweetener intake were related. In 2017, Bian and colleagues monitored the week-long effect of the artificial sweetener Acesulfame-K (Ace-K) on mice, and the study concluded that the popular, calorie-free additive in food and beverages caused weight gain.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"586\" height=\"376\" src=\"https:\/\/digitalprojects.davidson.edu\/writingscience\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/Screen-Shot-2019-12-17-at-2.42.25-PM.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-348\" srcset=\"https:\/\/digitalprojects.davidson.edu\/writingscience\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/Screen-Shot-2019-12-17-at-2.42.25-PM.png 586w, https:\/\/digitalprojects.davidson.edu\/writingscience\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/Screen-Shot-2019-12-17-at-2.42.25-PM-300x192.png 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 586px) 100vw, 586px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"> Making Ace-K the only variable in the mice\u2019s diet, Bian\u2019s data present a strong connection between weight gain and Ace-K usage, as male mice that were subjected to Ace-K gained more weight than those in the control. Even when accounting for the error bars, there is a noticeable difference in mass. The female mice\u2019s smaller increase in weight question the universality of these data however. This suggests that Ace-K had a much stronger negative effect on males, but that doesn\u2019t negate the sweetener\u2019s impact on females. The figure indicates that females with Ace-K treatment gained more weight than those without it, and the difference is more profound when the error bars are taken into consideration.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Making\nAcesulfame-K the only addition to the mice\u2019s diets, this study conducted by\nBian et al. points toward a new risk factor for weight gain. The experimental\ndata show that Ace-K can trigger weight gain in an organism without any other\nsignificant changes in activity or diet.\nKnowing that this substance performs the exact opposite of what it\u2019s advertised\nto do, it makes one wonder if other artificial sweeteners carry the same effect\nand why.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">*Bian,\nXiaoming et al., <em>PloS one<\/em>, vol. 12,\nno. 6, 2017<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>R. Fenner\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 People who suffer from obesity and chronic weight gain are affected by multiple factors.Genetics, a weakened thyroid, meager diet, and poor lifestyle choices can all increase body weight, [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":349,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[13,4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-347","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-artificial-sweeteners","category-post-1-spring-2019","entry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/digitalprojects.davidson.edu\/writingscience\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/347","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/digitalprojects.davidson.edu\/writingscience\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/digitalprojects.davidson.edu\/writingscience\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/digitalprojects.davidson.edu\/writingscience\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/digitalprojects.davidson.edu\/writingscience\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=347"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/digitalprojects.davidson.edu\/writingscience\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/347\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":350,"href":"https:\/\/digitalprojects.davidson.edu\/writingscience\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/347\/revisions\/350"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/digitalprojects.davidson.edu\/writingscience\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/349"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/digitalprojects.davidson.edu\/writingscience\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=347"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/digitalprojects.davidson.edu\/writingscience\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=347"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/digitalprojects.davidson.edu\/writingscience\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=347"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}