The excessive consumption of sugar rich food is identified as a leading contributing factor to global obesity. A potential strategy to combat this global problem, is by limiting the sugar supply to the body by replacing it with sugar alternatives (non-nutritive sweeteners). However, it is assumed that the consumption of NNS could cause physiological differences in the perception of sweet taste that have diverse effects on the satiety and hunger centers. A lower sweetness threshfold due to the consumption of NNS may lead to increase in desire to consume sugar and carbohydrate rich substances.
This systematic review aims to summarize the current evidence on the use of NNS as the potential strategy for obesity treatment and their impact of perception of sweet taste and efficacy of weight loss. The elaborate review included wide group of high sweeteness chemical compounds including aspartame, acesulfame-K, sucralose, saccharin, cyclamate, neohesperidin dihydrochalcone (neohesperidin DC), etc.
The collective evidence suggest that replacing sugar with NNS may support weight control. However, the effect on the sweet taste perception and regulation of appetite is inclusive. Most clinical research demonstrated that the consumption of NNS does not increase the sweetness preference. In addition, the replacement of sucrose with NNS does not contribute to short or long term compensation of energy intake, and even if it happens , the compensation is not enough to lead to weight gain or hinder weight loss.However, more long-term well-designed studies are needed to understand the effects of the NNS on weight status, appetite control, and their impact on sweetness perception.
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