Sweeteners don't spike appetite
MyNutriWeb summarized RCT evidence showing low/no‑calorie sweeteners do not reliably trigger appetite spikes or a 'sweet‑tooth' rebound — some trials even support weight loss and T2D management. (x.com) The review pushes back on a common justification for avoiding non‑nutritive sweeteners in weight management. (x.com)
MyNutriWeb’s recent write‑ups and webinar point to three new randomized trials and a 2025 systematic review as the key evidence base: the multicentre SWEET RCT (Nat Metab 2025), the six‑month Sweet Tooth Trial (Am J Clin Nutr 2025), and a Nutrition Reviews meta‑analysis (2025). (mynutriweb.com) (mynutriweb.com) The SWEET study enrolled 341 adults and 38 children, used a 2‑month low‑energy weight‑loss run‑in followed by a 10‑month ad‑libitum phase with <10% energy from sugars, and reported that adults who switched to foods and drinks containing sweeteners maintained weight loss better after one year. (sweetproject.eu) (sweetproject.eu) The Sweet Tooth Trial randomized 180 adults to diets where 7%, 35% or 80% of provided energy was sweet‑tasting for six months and found no between‑group differences in sweet‑taste liking, sweet‑taste intensity perception, energy intake, body weight, or markers for diabetes and cardiovascular disease. (ajcn.nutrition.org) (eprints.bournemouth.ac.uk) The Nutrition Reviews systematic review and meta‑analysis (searching RCTs to Dec 2023) found overall comparable efficacy of non‑nutritive sweeteners versus controls, but subgroup analyses showed mean differences of −0.89 kg in “mixed consumption” trials and −1.03 kg in trials using aspartame alone, plus a small reduction in hunger during the weight‑loss phase (SMD = −0.16). (academic.oup.com) (academic.oup.com) Those randomized‑trial signals are presented alongside the World Health Organization’s May 15, 2023 guideline, which issued a conditional recommendation against using non‑sugar sweeteners for weight control and flagged possible long‑term associations with type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular disease and mortality. (who.int) (who.int) MyNutriWeb convened experts on January 28, 2026 — including Professor Richard D. Mattes and Professor Kees de Graaf — to review the SWEET and Sweet Tooth trial data and discuss how trial design (duration, food matrices, and substitution versus additive use) shapes interpretation of appetite and weight outcomes. (mynutriweb.com) (sweeteners.org)
