From Sugar to Sweeteners—And into the Fire?

Noncaloric sweeteners are widely used in foods and beverages to provide a sweet taste without the calories of sucrose. However, some studies suggest that these sweeteners may stimulate appetite—essentially leading from the frying pan into the fire.

Chakravartti and colleagues sought to investigate this by giving 75 young adults a drink containing either sucralose, sucrose, or water. To study the effects, they used functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to examine how the consumed drink affected the hypothalamus—a brain structure that plays a key role in regulating appetite.

Compared to sucrose, consuming the noncaloric sweetener increased blood flow to the hypothalamus and triggered stronger hunger responses. The results highlight the complexity of the neural mechanisms that regulate appetite and indicate that replacing sugar with noncaloric sweeteners is not a straightforward solution to obesity.

Previous thoughts on the same topic:
Shower Taking and Interfering Elephants
Traditional beliefs turned out to be wisdom
Microbial solution to malnutrition?

Mentally Elementary-School-Aged Were Attacked, But Will Iran Come to Their Aid?

The brave journalist from the Finnish broadcasting company Yleisradio, Antti Kuronen—whom I hold in high regard—was harassed last night during a live broadcast, first by a group of young Lebanese and then shortly afterward by members of Hezbollah. The incident was, of course, unfortunate, but also quite telling.

This is because the confrontation illustrated more clearly than a thousand words what kind of people we are dealing with. First, the young adults who disrupted the broadcast behaved like kindergarteners—or at most, elementary school children—by trying to get their faces, and one particularly eager individual even their voice, onto the TV broadcast.

A moment later, after Kuronen mentioned the magic word "Hezbollah," the older Hamas terrorists attempted to steal Kuronen’s camera equipment—and managed to damage it somewhat in the process. In doing so, they demonstrated their opposition to impartial reporting from Lebanon, at a time when the entire Muslim world is spewing Hezbollah propaganda through every possible medium.

It remains to be seen how this group will fare against the attack launched by Israel. Will the soldiers of the Jewish state easily push Hezbollah further away from the border, or will the Shiite fighters—who are obviously mentally on the level of children—be able to mount effective resistance? And will the Israeli army succeed in its objective of stopping rocket fire from Lebanon into northern Israel?

The reaction of other states to Israel’s attack also remains to be seen. It’s clear that those stuck on an elementary school level are hoping for help from at least Iran.

One could also place bets on whether the ruling mullahs will dare to jeopardize their own position to help their terrorist allies. And if they do, will Israel take advantage of the situation to push Iran’s nuclear program into the history books?

Previous thoughts on the same topic:
Hassan Nasrallah Has Been Killed, but Lebanon Is Unlikely
Hezbollah Uses Human Shields While the Green-Left Looks Away
How Will Israel Benefit on the Explosions of Hezbollah's Communication Devices?