Judicious use of sucralose as sugar substitute has benefits for diabetics, says study

Study in India shows replacing sugar with sucralose in beverages has no negative impact on glucose levels or body weight.

A recent study from India examining the effects of replacing sucrose or table sugar with an artificial sweetener, sucralose, in coffee and tea, found no adverse impact on glucose or HbA1c levels, and in fact indicated a slight improvement in body weight, waist circumference and body mass index (BMI).

The article, ‘Effect of Replacing Sucrose in Beverages with Nonnutritive Sweetener Sucralose on Cardiometabolic Risk Factors Among Asian Indian Adults with Type 2 Diabetes: A 12-Week Randomized Controlled Trial’, was published in Diabetes Therapy late July. Notably, the study comes shortly after the WHO cautioned non-diabetics against using nonnutritive sweeteners (NNS) to control body weight.

Senior diabetologist Dr. V. Mohan, chairman of the Madras Diabetes Research Foundation, who led the study said: “We started this study even before the WHO’s report on sugar substitutes. We wanted to assess if there are any changes, because in India, sweeteners are used only sparingly instead of sugar, in tea and coffee, compared to the West, say. The study shows that there is no harm in taking sweeteners. In fact, there was a marginal improvement in body weight, BMI and waist circumference with no impact on glucose or HbA1c levels. This is a very important point to bring out to the public, since there is so much of negative publicity against sweeteners, which I feel is totally unfounded.”

This 12-week, parallel-arm randomized controlled trial included 210 participants with T2D, assigned to the intervention group, where sugar/sucrose in coffee or tea was substituted with sucralose, or the control group, where sugar/sucrose was continued. Lifestyle factors remained unchanged. The primary outcome was change in HbA1c. At the end of the study, researchers found no significant change in HbA1c levels between the intervention and control groups. However, favourable changes were noted in the BMI, waist circumference and mean body weight, the paper pointed out.

Dr. Mohan said the judicious use of NNS can help in cutting down calories, sugar intake and increase dietary compliance. More studies are underway on the safety and efficacy of sucralose, he said.