Fizzy water could be a cause of obesity, according to a new study.
Academics at Birzeit University in the Palestinian West Bank found that rats who were given fizzy drinks including zero-calorie versions put on weight, while those who drank flat liquid did not.
They said that the carbon dioxide in the drinks encouraged the rats to eat on average 20 per cent more.
My own experience is that a belly full of CO2, pre-burping at least, reduces hunger.
If the fizzy water is sweetened artificially, zero-calories or not, there is a cephalic response to sweetness(not sugar) leading to the release of insulin. Insulin is what allows fat storage; without it, you are a type 1 diabetic who will waste away untreated, no matter how many calories you consume.
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/14148594_Cephalic_phase_responses_to_sweet_taste
http://ajcn.nutrition.org/content/65/3/737.abstract?cited-by=yes&legid=ajcn;65/3/737&related-urls=yes&legid=ajcn;65/3/737
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/003193849400373D
@jgh The science does not seem to support your argument.
“Academics at Birzeit University in the Palestinian West Bank …”
Shouldn’t they be working on more important things than this?
https://intensivedietarymanagement.com/cephalic-phase-response-hunger-fasting-18/ From Dr Jason Fung, currently leading the charge against the old dietary assumptions and a very successful physician at helping type two diabetics:
“Of interest, sweetness itself is not sufficient to start the cephalic response. An unflavored artificial non caloric sweetener by itself did not stimulate insulin secretion. However, when paired with flavour, it may start the the cephalic phase, even if the gastric phase does not proceed (because it has no calories or bulk).”
SoBC you like flavourless drinks and meals apart from a smidgin of aspartame? Coke Zero has flavour which is why it is saleable.
Shouldn’t they be working on more important things than this?
To be fair, Birzeit is pretty non-partisan, or was. My sister was there for a while doing some sort of biological research and I believed it had closed down after the latest intifada, but obviously it’s reopened. Personally I think it’s refreshing that a university in the West Bank is actually engaging in some research rather than existing purely as yet another outlet for rabid anti-Jew opinions.
@ljh Sounds like a crank to me. No formal studies published. These low carb high fat diets are quite dangerous to certain groups of people.
No actual evidence that flavour makes the slightest difference from what I can see. Just Dr Fung’s unsupported sayso.
BC: he is doing empirically with great results what the orthodoxy, supported by big pharma, who benefit from diabetes 2 being a chronic incurable disease, denies is possible. His success rate is documented and impressive. If you go through his citations, you will find they are all soundly researched but heigh ho science advances one funeral at a time. Helicobacter causing ulcers, continental drift, low carb?
I’d be inclined to go along with Ljh. Simply on the evidence of the number of fat bastards who remain fat bastards despite loudly insisting their Coke must always be the Zero variety. Flavour & sweetness provoke the body into stashing away some more lard & to look around for the calories to do so. Why Coke Zero enthusiasts are also surreptitious pudding grazers. And even fatter bastards.
‘They said that the carbon dioxide in the drinks encouraged the rats to eat on average 20 per cent more.’
None of us are rats.
That I know of.
Speak for yourself, Gamecock.