"A craving for sweetness may actually be a craving for calories, and since artificial sweeteners deliver the sweetness but not the calories, they leave the consumer looking for a calorie fix."
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The possibility that the brain can somehow subconsciously detect calories while food is still in the mouth is backed up by a study of stationary bikers who were asked to rinse their mouths with either a solution of glucose or one of saccharin, without swallowing. Amazingly, the glucose solution improved performance,
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The most popular target of the anti-aspartame crusaders is methanol, one of the products of aspartame metabolism. Indeed, methanol is released when aspartame is broken down in the body, and methanol can produce some nasty effects including visual disturbances. It is also true that methanol is further metabolized into formaldehyde, a recognized carcinogen. But numbers matter! A banana or a glass of tomato juice contains far more methanol, naturally occurring, than that produced from a serving of a diet beverage. The methanol argument is just not plausible.
Read more: http://www.montrealgazette.com/health/Sweet+science+satisfies/3509208/story.html#ixzz14sfmLdpy
