Soft drinks could affect the way body processes sugars

Zero-calorie beverages can mess with your metabolism, and affect the way in which your body processes sugars, according to a study.

The report says that artificially sweetened beverages are not only associated with bad health effects similar to those linked with consuming regular soda - but could even have worse long term health effects.

Lead author Susan Swithers of the department of psychological sciences and ingestive behavior research center at Purdue University, told FoxNews.com that in lots of ways, the artificial sweeteners have got the benefit of the doubt, as they don't have any calories.

Based on an analysis, Swithers and her team predicted that artificial sweeteners can train people's brains and bodies to react differently when something sweet is tasted.

According to Swithers, when the body responds to sugar, it signals an intake of both calories and sugar has occurred so that the body releases the hormones needed to prepare, which prevents rise in blood sugar, and those same hormones are thought to have direct effects on satiety.

Swithers asserted that when a person consumes a sweetener the taste is sweet but calories and sugar don't show up on blood stream, which confuses the body as it wasn't expecting this to happen' and over time the body may be able to produce those same anticipatory responses.

The findings have been published in Trends in Endocrinology and Metabolism.