One of the main factors in a healthy lifestyle is considered to be the body mass index. And it’s not a secret for anyone that overweight is becoming one of the main causes of various kinds of diseases: cancer, hypertension (with subsequent heart attack and stroke), type 2 diabetes mellitus, atherosclerosis, arthritis.
Of course, there are many ways to correct weight (exercise, diet, medicinal methods, etc.), but they all require some kind of effort. Until recently, so-called “diet” products were considered one of the affordable and not burdensome ways to lose weight.
But the effect of their consumption was diametrically opposite to the expectations of consumers. Meanwhile, low-calorie foods and drinks have become widespread in recent decades, as they were seen as a very effective solution to the global problem of obesity and diabetes.
But it was at the same time that doctors observed a sharp increase in the number of people suffering from excess weight. Scientists could not explain the reason for such a strange effect.
It has been repeatedly written recently that artificial sweeteners do not so much help but exacerbate the problem that consumers of low-calorie foods are trying to get rid of.
Recent research by scientists on this topic has once again confirmed that artificial sweeteners used in the production of “diet” products will lead to diabetes and obesity much faster than ordinary “harmful” sugar.
Studies have shown that “low-calorie” sugar substitutes actually exacerbate obesity and diabetes, as their use raises blood glucose levels in people much more than drinking water simply sweetened with regular sugar.
The reason lies in the effect of sugar substitutes on the intestinal microflora. The fact is that they are not absorbed by the body and are excreted only through the intestines, affecting the change in the composition of its microflora.
That is why, according to research, the composition of the intestinal flora is significantly different for those who regularly consume drinks with sugar substitutes, in contrast to people who do not consume this type of product.
In addition, it was found that the participants in the studies who drank drinks with artificial sweeteners for only a week, in the microflora appeared bacteria present in diabetics and associated with impaired metabolism of glucose.
And if the results of the studies of Israeli scientists from the Weizmann Institute are confirmed, it turns out that one of the factors that swept the world of the “epidemic” of excess weight and diabetes mellitus, paradoxically, was precisely the fight against it.