Dr. Howard Smith Oncall

Vidcast:  https://www.instagram.com/reel/DIxIRCGR9TW/Sucralose, an artificial sweetener that is the basis for Splenda and is found in many diet drinks and foods, appears to disrupt your brain signals related to hunger and appetite.  Endocrinologists at the University of Southern California now publish a small but detailed randomized crossover study of 75 young adults in the journal Nature Metabolism.Using brain imaging, the researchers show that sucralose more so than conventional sugar increases blood flow to and activity in a person’s hypothalamus.  Among other things, this region of the brain controls appetite.  This effect proved to be stronger in obese subjects and in women.  Consuming the sucralose didn’t always make the study subjects feel hungrier, but the reaction it caused in their brains suggests that this artificial sweetener might impact your cravings and eating behaviors by confusing your system with sweetness that doesn’t deliver calories.https://www.nature.com/articles/s42255-025-01227-8https: