Studies compared with raats that ate yogurt sweetened with glucose (a simple sugar), rats that ate yogurt sweetened with the zero-calorie artificial sweetener saccharin:

Consumed more calories (and didn't make up for it by cutting back later)

Gained more weight

Put on more body fat

It's thought that consuming artificial sweeteners breaks the connection between a sweet sensation and a high-calorie food, thereby changing your body's ability to regulate intake.

Researchers also measured the rats? core body temperatures, which typically rise after eating. However, after eating a sweet, high-calorie meal, rats that ate saccharin had a lower rise in body temperature than rats that ate glucose.

Researchers believe that this response led the rats to overeat, and made it harder to burn off the calories later.

They concluded that consuming foods sweetened with saccharin would lead to greater weight gain and body fat than eating the same foods sweetened with sugar.

Researchers believe that consuming other artificial sweeteners such as aspartame, sucralose, and acesulfame K would have similar effects. (start reading labels)

The evidence just keeps pouring in that consuming artificial sweeteners will likely wreak havoc on your body by impairing your ability to regulate your appetite naturally.

The belief that eating artificially sweetened foods and drinking artificially sweetened beverages will help you to lose weight is a carefully orchestrated deception. So if you are still opting for diet choices for this reason, you are being sorely misled.

In reality, these diet foods and drinks ruin your body's ability to count calories, thus boosting your inclination to overindulge. Unfortunately, most public health agencies and nutritionists in the United States recommend these toxic artificial sweeteners as an acceptable alternative to sugar, which is at best confusing and at worst harming the health of those who take their misguided advice.

Consider what the research says:

Diet sodas may double your risk of obesity

Artificial sweeteners can stimulate your appetite, increase carbohydrate cravings, and stimulate fat storage and weight gain

Yet, gaining weight is only one of the side effects of consuming these man-made chemical sweeteners.