Does anyone know for sure why some (Dr's) are saying that sweeteners trick your body into releasing insulin and we should eliminate them completely from our diet and others say its ok to consume them??..
I drink a lot of diet pop daily and I enjoy my diet jello way too much.. I can't imagine having to give them up... Simply put I won't!! *lol*

hi Sandi,

Someone asked a similar question recently, and I posted my response, but I can't remember which topic to search under .. (it must be a sign that I'm posting too much, when I type in the word "insulin" authored by me, and get hundreds and hundreds of results .. )

Anyway, after hours scouring the web, and poring over volumes of books, I could find NO direct physical link between artificial sweeteners and insulin, EXCEPT ... often, the packets and powdered sweeteners have maltodextrin and dextrose added. THESE are indeed carbs, and if eaten in excess, will result in a rise in blood sugar, and a surge of insulin (triggering more cravings). Products like diet Jello, and diet soft drinks don't contain these fillers, so are less likely to cause such a problem. On the other hand, they may contain citric and/or phosphoric acid, both of which are known to cause stall problems for SOME people. I personally enjoy these products on occasion myself, and have no problem, but I might if I drank say, a 2 liter bottle of diet pop every day. Don't know .. ??

HOWEVER, there can be an emotional link between artificial sweeteners and insulin. In Carbohydrate Addicts, the Hellers explain how the mere sweet taste will trigger an emotional response for someone addicted or strongly craving sweets and carbs. Indulging the craving causes a release of endorphins, and a cascade of neurohormones --- serotonin, adrenaline, dopamine, among others --- in response. It's the surges of these hormones which ultimately trigger the release of insulin. It's sort of like Pavlov's dogs .... remember the experiment?, they were given food every time a little bell rang, to which they responded by salivating and drooling. Eventually, they salivated and drooled to the sound of the bell alone, without the presence of any food. A purely physiological, hormonal response to an emotional trigger.

If you feel in control of sweet cravings, rather than them controlling you, there's likely no problem whatsoever. But if you are drinking liters of pop, and eating a lot of artificially sweetened foods to fill a void in your diet, it may well be that those sweets, carb-free as they may be, are only perpetuating the addiction, and the insulin release is only serving to store body fat (since there's no carbs there for it to deal with)

Just a note too, about maltitol and sorbitol, and all the other sugar alcohols used to sweeten "sugar-free" candy and chocolate. These are NOT artificial sweeteners, they are indeed carbs, and they do cause blood sugar and insulin to rise, although much more slowly and more incompletely than ordinary sugar.

hope this helps ...

Doreen

I am in a bit of a quandary! Lets say hypothetically that your insulin level does become elevated and it were necessary to eliminate it from our diet. What else would there be besides water.
I don't drink coffee or tea beside the caffeine issue, I just don't care for it.

Thanks Doreen I will print this out and carry it with me for arguments sake... I can't imagine how I could continue if it weren't for my occasional diet pop and Jello. And what about the 40 lb's I have mamaged to lose using the sweeteners.. Possibly, it might go faster without it, but I myself haven't got that kind of will power...

what to drink besides water, ie, specifically non-sweet drinks ........ club soda, Perrier, with a wedge of lemon or lime, iced tea (home-brewed, or you can buy plain instant tea, but it tastes gross, in my opinion .. .. but then I think instant coffee is an abomination too ), herbal teas and tisanes, and these are lovely iced as well. Consomme or bouillon (sugar-free). Any of the teas can be made double-strength and chilled, then mixed half & half with sparkling water for a nice spritzer...

Just on the subject of insulin, the whole idea of lowcarbing and ketogenic diets is to keep insulin levels stable and even, to prevent dips and surges ... NOT to prevent the secretion of insulin altogether. In the above discussion, the issue is about persons who are emotioinally ADDICTED to carbs and the sweet taste and sensation, and how this can lead to a surge of insulin WAY out of proportion to the level of sugar present in the blood. For someone not having such problems, the carb-free sodas etc will cause little or no rise in insulin ...

Doreen

Hi Sandi,

Here is the thread Doreen was referring to.

http://forum.lowcarber.org/showthre...=&threadid=4365

Karen