Do artificial sweeteners make you gain weight? This question has been hotly debated by scientists for decades with study after study showing strange correlations between a tendency to obesity and consumption of low-calorie sweeteners. A new study could have uncovered one of the biological mechanisms behind this counter-intuitive phenomenon.

Ever since the introduction of modern artificial sweeteners to our shelves in the 1980s there has been debate around their safety and ultimate efficacy as a weight-loss agent. Several large scale studies over the past 30 years have displayed positive correlations between weight gain and artificial sweetener use.

While these studies did not imply a direct cause and effect, many researchers tried to come up with ways to explain the seemingly anomalous results. After all, why would consumption of lower-calorie foodstuffs result in weight gain? It didn’t really make rational sense, leading to behavioral explanations being bandied about suggesting those who consumed artificial sweeteners over-compensated their calorie consumption elsewhere.

Other explanations speculated that artificial sweeteners confused the body’s regular metabolic processes by being sweet but lacking calories. When your body doesn’t get the […]