At Ketogeek, we use non-nutritive sweeteners to ensure that all the nutrients in the Energy Pods can be delicious for you to enjoy! A big concern among many people is that sweeteners or sweet tastes may cause an increase in appetite or food intake. This double-blind randomized crossover controlled study(1) used a stevia-sweetened drink in 20 participants and compared it with glucose, sucrose, maltodextrin, and plain water before a lunch meal.
Researchers found, interestingly, that the sweetness of the drink did impact the appetite while the stevia-sweetened beverage reduced energy intake superior to water, maltodextrin, glucose, and sucrose. Even more interesting was that energy intake was not different between the non-caloric water and the caloric glucose, sucrose, and maltodextrin drinks!
Overall, contrary to the allegations against non-nutritive sweeteners in social media and among nutrition charlatans, this study may be suggestive that sweetness may help reduce intake rather than increase energy intake! Considering that study was double-blind with both researchers and participants not knowing what they were getting, this shows promising results in sweetness being beneficial towards reducing food intake.
In a nutshell, we will continue to use high-quality sweeteners and science to continue to evolve our Energy Pods. Go get some!