Trial reportNutrients2018
The Impact of Caloric and Non-Caloric Sweeteners on Food Intake and Brain Responses to Food: A Randomized Crossover Controlled Trial in Healthy Humans.
Trial report in Nutrients, 2018. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 15 papers, 3 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
15 citing papers in PubMed, 3 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 33 citations in OpenAlex.
- Artificially sweetened beverages do not influence metabolic risk factors: a systematic review and meta-analysis.Frontiers in nutrition · 2025Pooled it
- The Combined Effects of Aspartame and Acesulfame-K Blends on Appetite: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of Randomized Clinical Trials.Advances in nutrition (Bethesda, Md.) · 2022Pooled it
- Pooled it
- Effects of Oral Xylitol, Sucrose, and Acesulfame Potassium on Total Energy Intake During a SubsequentNutrients · 2025Trial
- Obesity and Sex-Related Associations With Differential Effects of Sucralose vs Sucrose on Appetite and Reward Processing: A Randomized Crossover Trial.JAMA network open · 2021Trial
- [Development and application of gustatory evoked potentiometer].Lin chuang er bi yan hou tou jing wai ke za zhi = Journal of clinical otorhinolaryngology head and neck surgery · 2025Review
- Association of non-nutritive sweetener consumption with food craving and body image among university students: A cross-sectional study.PloS one · 2025Article
- Metabolic Effects of Selected Conventional and Alternative Sweeteners: A Narrative Review.Nutrients · 2024Review
- Non-nutritive Sweeteners: Weight Loss or Weight Gain?Endocrine, metabolic & immune disorders drug targets · 2024Review
- Review
- Binge-Eating Precursors in Children and Adolescents: Neurodevelopment, and the Potential Contribution of Ultra-Processed Foods.Nutrients · 2023Review
- Article
- Effects of Non-nutritive Sweeteners on Sweet Taste Processing and Neuroendocrine Regulation of Eating Behavior.Current nutrition reports · 2020Review
- Effects of Artificial Sweetener Consumption on Glucose Homeostasis and Its Association with Type 2 Diabetes and Obesity.International journal of general medicine · 2020Review
- Are Nonnutritive Sweeteners Obesogenic? Associations between Diet, Faecal Microbiota, and Short-Chain Fatty Acids in Morbidly Obese Subjects.Journal of obesity · 2019Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
10 authors at 4 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Whether non-nutritive sweetener (NNS) consumption impacts food intake behavior in humans is still unclear. Discrepant sensory and metabolic signals are proposed to mislead brain regulatory centers, in turn promoting maladaptive food choices favoring weight gain. We aimed to assess whether ingestion of sucrose- and NNS-sweetened drinks would differently alter brain responses to food viewing and food intake. Eighteen normal-weight men were studied in a fasted condition and after consumption of a standardized meal accompanied by either a NNS-sweetened (NNS), or a sucrose-sweetened (SUC) drink, or water (WAT). Their brain responses to visual food cues were assessed by means of electroencephalography (EEG) before and 45 min after meal ingestion. Four hours after meal ingestion, spontaneous food intake was monitored during an ad libitum buffet. With WAT, meal intake led to increased neural activity in the dorsal prefrontal cortex and the insula, areas linked to cognitive control and interoception. With SUC, neural activity in the insula increased as well, but decreased in temporal regions linked to food categorization, and remained unchanged in dorsal prefrontal areas. The latter modulations were associated with a significantly lower total energy intake at buffet (mean kcal ± SEM; 791 ± 62) as compared to WAT (942 ± 71) and NNS (917 ± 70). In contrast to WAT and SUC, NNS consumption did not impact activity in the insula, but led to increased neural activity in ventrolateral prefrontal regions linked to the inhibition of reward. Total energy intake at the buffet was not significantly different between WAT and NNS. Our findings highlight the differential impact of caloric and non-caloric sweeteners on subsequent brain responses to visual food cues and energy intake. These variations may reflect an initial stage of adaptation to taste-calorie uncoupling, and could be indicative of longer-term consequences of repeated NNS consumption on food intake behavior.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.