Sucralose affects response to oral glucose load in obese

(HealthDay)—For obese adults who do not use non-nutritive sweetener (NNS), sucralose affects the glycemic and insulin responses to an oral glucose load, according to a study published online April 30 in Diabetes Care.

M. Yanina Pepino, Ph.D., from the Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, and colleagues examined the acute effects of sucralose ingestion on the metabolic response to an oral glucose load in 17 obese individuals who did not use NNS and were insulin sensitive. In a randomized crossover design study, participants underwent a five-hour modified oral glucose tolerance test on two occasions 10 minutes after consuming sucralose or water.

The researchers found that sucralose ingestion caused significantly greater incremental increases in peak plasma glucose concentrations and insulin area under the curve, as well as a greater peak insulin secretion rate, and caused significant decreases in insulin clearance and insulin sensitivity, compared with the control condition. For active glucagon-like peptide 1, glucose-dependent insulinotropic polypeptide, glucagon incremental area under the curve, or indices of sensitivity to the ?-cell response to glucose, there were no significant differences between the conditions.

"In conclusion, the results from our study demonstrate that sucralose affects the glycemic and hormonal responses to an oral glucose load in obese people who do not normally consume NNS," the authors write. "These findings support the notion that sucralose is not metabolically inert but has physiologic effects."

Tate & Lyle provided sucralose for the study.