Listen to Story The Madras Diabetes Research Foundation (MDRF), a non-profit medical research institute, has published India's first study on how the artificial sweetener sucralose affects heart and metabolic health in adults with type 2 diabetes (T2D). The researchers of the study wanted to find out what happens when people with diabetes mellitus replace table sugar with sucralose in their tea and coffee. Over 12 weeks, 179 Indians with type 2 diabetes participated in this research, which is a randomised controlled study looking at replacing sugar with artificial sweeteners.
The results showed that using small amounts of sucralose in daily drinks like coffee and tea does not negatively affect blood sugar levels or HbA1c, a marker of long-term blood sugar control. In fact, the study found slight improvements in body weight, waist size, and body mass index (BMI). Researchers stated that while many studies have looked at artificial sweeteners , there is little data on their effects when used in everyday drinks.
Many people with diabetes in India use sugar in their tea and coffee, contributing to their daily sugar intake. Given India's high carbohydrate consumption, especially from foods like white rice and refined wheat, this adds to the risks for type 2 diabetes. Sweeteners are of 2 types - nutritive (like fructose contain calories are not useful for people with diabetes) and non-nutritive (sweeteners like sucralose or stevia contain zero calories and are intensely sweet, ther.