A recent literature review has examined research that links children’s artificial sweetener consumption to weight gain, purportedly finding “no strong clinical evidence for causality.” Rebecca J. Brown, et al., “Artificial Sweeteners: A systematic review of metabolic effects in youth, “International Journal of Pediatric Obesity, January 2010. Sponsored by the National Institute of Diabetes, Digestive and Kidney Disease, the meta-analysis looked at 18 studies that included both randomized controlled trials, which did not demonstrate any adverse or beneficial metabolic effects for artificial sweeteners, and “data from large, epidemiologic studies,” which tended to “support the existence of an association between artificially-sweetened beverage consumption and weight gain in children.”

The review also pointed to questions raised by recent animal studies while admitting the difficulty of establishing “causality between artificial sweetener consumption, weight gain, and metabolic abnormalities, as artificial sweetener is like to be an indicator for other variables.” According to the authors, “At the current time, the jury remains out regarding a possible role of increased sweetener use in the obesity and diabetes epidemic, whether adverse, beneficial or neutral.”

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For decades, manufacturers, distributors and retailers at every link in the food chain have come to Shook, Hardy & Bacon to partner with a legal team that understands the issues they face in today's evolving food production industry. Shook attorneys work with some of the world's largest food, beverage and agribusiness companies to establish preventative measures, conduct internal audits, develop public relations strategies, and advance tort reform initiatives.

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