If you’re trying to lose weight, you might want to consider pouring that diet soda down the drain. A recent study has revealed evidence that the widespread use of artificial sweeteners may actually make it harder for people to control their calorie intake and body weight.

The findings of the study appear in the February issue of Behavioral Neuroscience, which is published by the American Psychological Association (APA).

Psychologists at Purdue University conducted a study where they fed one groups of rats yogurt sweetened with glucose (a simple sugar with 15 calories/teaspoon, the same as table sugar), and other yogurt sweetened with zero-calorie saccharin. The study discovered the group of rats that ate the yogurt sweetened artificially later consumed more calories, gained more weight, put on more body fat, and didn’t make up for it by cutting back later.

Authors Susan Swithers, PhD, and Terry Davidson, PhD, said cutting the connection between sweets and calories may confuse the body, making it harder to regulate intake. 

Problems with self-regulation might explain in part why obesity has risen along with the use of artificial sweeteners, researchers said. They also said the findings may explain why studies on the effects of artificial sweeteners having to do with weight loss are inconclusive.

“The data clearly indicate that consuming a food sweetened with no-calorie saccharin can lead to greater body-weight gain than would consuming the same food sweetened with a higher-calorie sugar,” the authors wrote.

If artificial sweeteners aren’t good for you, what steps should you take to cut back on your saccharin intake? According to ABC News, Keith-Thomas Ayoob, a nutritionist at Albert Einstein College of Medicine, offers the following suggestions:

- Keep the soda and soft drinks to one daily. Have water or seltzer at other times.
- Hold the sweetener packets to one or two in your drinks.
- Add more water to powdered drink mixes than is called for. Gradually add more until you get used to a half-strength mix (this is more economical as well).
- Sweets are occasional treats, so once or twice a week is occasional. Much more than that and it’s a lifestyle, not a treat.
- Try watery fruits for a sweet fix. Grapes and melons are even a great beverage substitute because they make you feel as if you’re both drinking and eating.