Artificial sweeteners are hailed by some as the secret weapon to aid people desiring to lose weight, and condemned by others as causing more problems than they solve.  A new study seems to fall into the latter category.

Artificial sweeteners have long been advertised as a way for people to eat treats and soft drinks safely and lose weight, without raising the risk of diabetes.  But researchers at the Medical College of Wisconsin and Marquette University say artificial sweeteners could actually contribute to health problems like type 2 diabetes.  Their new report presented to the annual Experimental Biology conference details groups of lab rats that were vulnerable to developing diabetes.  Some were fed large doses of the sugars glucose and fructose, others got artificial sweeteners aspertame and acesulfame potassium.

"Just after three weeks of giving these sweeteners and sugars to our diabetes-susceptible rats, we saw biochemical changes in the blood that could potentially lead to alterations in fat and energy metabolism," said lead author Brian Hoffman, a biomedical engineer at both universities. 

In the case of the artificial sweetener rats, there were signs of protein breakdown in the blood.  Without getting a normal amount of sugar in their diets, their bodies turned to their own musculature.  "Sweeteners kinda trick the body," said Hoffman.  "And then when your body's not getting the energy it needs - because it does need some sugar to function properly - it potentially finds that source elsewhere."

There have been other attempts to link artificial sweeteners to other health problems - often debunked - but Hoffman insists this research isn't like past studies. 

"Most of these sweeteners were approved well before we had the technology to perform studies like my lab is doing," Hoffman said.  "So they weren't able to look as in-depth at some of the potential effects being caused.

"By knowing what biochemical changes these are causing through these large-scale studies, we can take a unbiased approach and see what's changing to give us a better direction."