Freshman Angelica Febrillet prefers diet sodas to those with sugar. She thinks it seems to be a healthier choice.

“If I buy soda, I’ll buy Diet Coke. I don’t want the calories,” she said.

But according to a Purdue University study on rats, these sweeteners may actually cause you to gain weight.

Researchers led by Susan Swithers of Purdue found that on average, rats eating yogurt with no-calorie saccharin gained more weight than rats eating yogurt sweetened with sugar.

Arnold Frank, a clinical assistant professor of medicine at GW, said that low-calorie sweeteners are not necessarily responsible for weight gain in humans.

“I haven’t read that particular study yet, but I think that there’s been a lot of controversy over low-calorie sweeteners, and it’s been for decades now,” Frank said. “There’s actually very little evidence that low-calorie sweeteners actually cause weight gain.”

According to the Purdue study, the saccharin disrupted the rats ability to properly assess how many calories they were consuming and caused overeating.

“It doesn’t affect me because I’ve heard things like that before and I feel like it’s always something,” Febrillet said of the study.

Many GW students agreed, saying the study will not change their habits.

“I think either way you’re going to get fat,” sophomore Joe Delio said.

Robin Acevedo, a freshman, said she has doubts about the effects.

“I don’t use a lot of sweeteners, but I drink a lot of Diet Coke,” she said. “I’d have to see more studies showing that it’s worse than regular sugar (before I switched). Either way though, I should cut it out of my diet.”

In the study only 27 rats were tested, and doctors have commented that rat studies aren’t necessarily applicable to humans.

“Whether the rat study is convertible to people, I couldn’t say, I haven’t read this particular study yet. But people don’t necessarily have the same reactions as rats,” Frank said.

Other studies by Swithers have linked reduced- and no-calorie sweeteners to weight gain, finding that rats ingesting saccharin had lower energy expenditures after eating a meal with sugar. However, recent studies have also found that sucralose, or Splenda, paired with exercise, helped children lose weight.

In the face of conflicting reports, many students say the results will have little to no bearing on their intake. Freshman Allie Guttenplan, who has studied artificial sweeteners in class, said she does not feel affected by the study.

She said “If (the rat study) is true than obviously I wouldn’t want to drink as much diet soda, but I’d probably still drink it.”