NCT07018921

Low Calorie Sweeteners Effects on Appetite

Do Sweeteners Need to be Tasted to Affect Appetite? A Pilot Study

• Status: Completed
• Phase: N/A
• Study type: Interventional
• Enrollment: 17 (actual)
• Sponsor: University of Manchester · Academic / Other
• Sex: All
• Age: 18 Years – 40 Years
• Healthy volunteers: Accepted

Summary

The principal research question is whether the ingestion of stevia (rebaudioside A) in encapsulated format will have any effects on blood glucose, appetite and food intake in healthy human volunteers.

Detailed description

Obesity presents a major global health crisis; developing healthier diets is a key goal. Excess consumption of caloric sweeteners contributes to the alarming high rates of overweight and obesity. Non-nutritive sweeteners, like stevia, are used to decrease energy content of foods and beverages. Very recently a systematic review and meta-analysis conducted and published by WHO, concluded that non-nutritive sweeteners use results in small reduction in body weight and BMI in adults, as assessed in RCTs. In a previous set of studies from our group we showed that a single-dose of a stevia-sweetened beverage prior to lunch leads a lower energy intake compared to consuming water or a sugar-sweetened beverage (Stamataki et al J Nutr. 2020; 150(5):1126-1134. doi: 10.1093/jn/nxaa038). This effect was confirmed to be present in the long-term, as in another 12-weeks trial we demonstrated that individuals in the stevia group (they started consuming stevia drops twice daily with habitual drinks before their meals) demonstrated a significant spontaneous reduction in energy intake compared to the control group (Stamataki et al Nutrients. 2020;12(10):3049. doi: 10.3390/nu12103049). In a nutshell, this research so far has showed that stevia consumption elicits benefits in appetite and energy intake, without affecting physiological responses such as postprandial glucose response. Taking this research a step further, it is crucial now to answer whether sweetness without calories was the key component of these outcomes, in other words would stevia have the same effects if it was not tasted, if sweet taste (in the oral cavity) was bypassed? As such the main aim of this study is to evaluate the effects of stevia in a capsule vs placebo on appetite and energy intake and elucidate whether stevia elicits similar effects when sweet taste is bypassed.

Conditions

• Appetite

Interventions

Type	Name	Description
DIETARY_SUPPLEMENT	rebaudioside A	rebaudioside A encapsulated in a vegetarian capsule
DIETARY_SUPPLEMENT	Placebo	carboxymethylcellulose encapsulated in a vegetarian capsule

Timeline

• Start date: 2023-03-15
• Primary completion: 2023-05-19
• Completion: 2023-12-31
• First posted: 2025-06-13
• Last updated: 2025-06-13

Locations

1 site across 1 country: United Kingdom