The gut can distinguish sugar from low-calorie alternatives Antonio Guillem/Getty Images
Can you taste the difference between a calorie-laden sugar and a zero-calorie sweetener? Specialised cells in your gut can, according to experiments in mice. These cells tell the brain whether a sugar or sweetener has been ingested within milliseconds.
revealed that food doesn’t need to pass through the mouth to stimulate a response from the brain. Mice respond to food rewards when they are put directly into their stomachs, too. More recent studies have found that
