Rats fed artificial sweeteners ate three times the calories of rats given sugar, a finding the study’s authors said suggests sugar-free foods may play a role in the nation’s obesity epidemic. Other scientists, however, dismissed that conclusion, saying studies on people don’t indicate that. One researcher called the rat study nonsense. The experiment by Purdue University researchers appears in the July issue of the International Journal of Obesity. The scientists said their rodent findings could help explain why Americans have grown fatter over the past two decades even as the nation’s consumption of artificially sweetened sodas and snack foods has soared.
