Madras Diabetes Research Foundation (MDRF), a non-profit medical research institute, has published India’s first study on how the artificial sweetener sucralose affects the cardiovascular and metabolic health of adults with type 2 diabetes (T2D).

The study researchers wanted to know what happens when people with diabetes use sucralose instead of sugar in their tea and coffee.

The study, which involved 179 Indians with type 2 diabetes over 12 weeks, was a randomised controlled study that considered the use of artificial sweeteners in place of sugar.

The results showed that using small amounts of sucralose in daily beverages such as coffee and tea did not have a negative impact on blood sugar levels or HbA1c, which is an indicator of long-term blood sugar control.

In fact, the study found modest improvements in body weight, waist size and body mass index (BMI).

The researchers said that although artificial sweeteners have been considered in numerous studies, there is little data available about the effects of their use in everyday beverages.

Many people with diabetes in India use sugar in their tea and coffee, increasing their daily sugar consumption. Given the high consumption of carbohydrates in India, especially from foods such as white rice and refined wheat, this increases the risk of type 2 diabetes.

There are two types of sweeteners – nutritive (like fructose, which has calories and is not good for diabetics) and non-nutritive (sweeteners like sucralose or stevia have zero calories and are very sweet, so they can replace sugar).

According to Dr V Mohan, senior diabetologist and president of MDRF, sucralose is one of the popular non-nutritive or artificial sweeteners used in India and abroad.

“Most of the recent studies were done on artificial sweeteners consumed in large quantities, mainly in diet colas, desserts or sweets. In India, most people replace sugar with sweeteners like sucralose in their tea or coffee. Since this is equivalent to only 3 to 4 teaspoons of sugar per day, the amount of sweetener used is also less,” said Dr Mohan.

Surprisingly, no study has been done on using sweet substances in place of sugar used in tea or coffee.

“So we studied sucralose in people with type 2 diabetes who were also consuming sugar. We advised one group to continue consuming sugar, while the other group was advised to replace sugar with sucralose,” he said.

The idea behind this study was based on recent observations by some research groups, which showed that the use of artificial sweeteners may increase HbA1c and glucose levels, as well as lead to weight gain.

In contrast, researchers found that intake of artificial sweeteners such as sucralose decreased body weight, BMI, and waist circumference.

Dr. Mohan said that there were some positive effects on serum lipid levels as well.

So we concluded that, consuming sweeteners in small amounts does not have any harmful effects and in fact it may be beneficial. These studies are new and have been published in the prestigious medical journal – Diabetes Therapy. It was a fair

The timing of this study is important, as the World Health Organization recently advised against the use of artificial sweeteners for weight control, though these guidelines were primarily for people without diabetes.

This advice raised concerns about the use of artificial sweeteners in people with type 2 diabetes.

Participants in the study were divided into two groups: one used sucralose instead of sugar in their coffee or tea, and the other continued to use sugar.

Their lifestyle and medications remained the same. After 12 weeks, there was no significant difference in HbA1c levels between the two groups.

However, the group using sucralose saw slight improvements in BMI, waist size, and weight.

Average weight loss was 0.3 kg, BMI decreased by 0.1 kg/m² and waist size decreased by 0.9 cm.

The study was funded by Zydus Wellness, which provided sucralose sweetener in pill, liquid, and powder forms for the research.