Can non-nutritive sweeteners enhance outcomes of weight loss interventions?

With obesity reaching epidemic proportions in many countries around the world, the search for the causes of and potential solutions for this condition continues. It is noteworthy that the increase in the consumption of added or discretionary sugars has mirrored the dramatic rise in the prevalence of obesity over the past few decades. Although certainly not the only factor contributing to the obesity epidemic, a large body of evidence now exists indicating that consumption of sugar (sucrose) sweetened beverages promotes weight gain in both children and adults (1). Moreover, some experts have recently argued that there is now sufficient scientific evidence to conclude that decreasing sugar-sweetened beverage consumption will reduce the prevalence of obesity and obesity-related diseases (2). Accordingly, the potential value of replacing sucrose with lowcalorie sweeteners, also known as non-nutritive sweeteners (NNS), for promoting weight loss has become a topic of increasing scientific interest.