The feud between sugar and artificial sweeteners has been going on for quite some time, but most people just brush it off and decide to take the “diet Snapple” rather than the regular. But little do they know that although they are not consuming calories, they are changing their levels of insulin to extreme peaks and lows.

A study at the Washington University School of Medicine, from the journal called Diabetes Care, compared the differences of artificial sweeteners and regular sugars, and how they cooperate with your insulin levels. The researchers took seventeen obese people who did not use any artificial sweeteners, such as Splenda, often, and who were not diagnosed with diabetes. The test was given two different times, one of which were giving water to drink and then give glucose right after, and the second was given sucralose, the artificial sweetener, to drink and then give the glucose after.

M. Yanina Pepino, PhD, a research assistant professor of medicine, has stated, “When study participants drank sucralose, their blood sugar peaked at a higher level than when they drank only water before consuming glucose. Insulin levels also rose about 20 percent higher. So the artificial sweetener was related to an enhanced blood insulin and glucose response.” Pepino has also said that she originally began a study in order to test people suffering from obesity and how they react with sweeteners because artificial sugars are suggested for their lack of extra calories. But through other research, it seems as though the consumption of sweeteners had shown weight being gained rather than being lost.

Pepino realizes that this is only the beginning of tests and experiments, and that more tests must be done in the future, but the fact of the matter is that you should stick to natural sugar! Zero-Calories don’t mean a healthier lifestyle.