Introduction:

The consumption of sweetened beverages has increased alarmingly in recent decades, which has been associated with the development of obesity. In this regard, the food industry has replaced the use of caloric sweeteners with non-caloric sweeteners as a remedial measure.

Objective:

of this study was to analyze and determine the effect of sucrose and stevia consumption on body weight, frequency, size of meal and drink, and metabolic parameters in Wistar rats.

Materials and Methods:

39 adult male rats were used, divided into three groups: control group (CG) that had water and standard food available, sucrose group (SAG) that had food and 8% sucrose solution available, and the stevia group (STG) that had food and 0.2% sweetened solution for nine weeks with free access. Total consumption of food, water, and sweetened solution was recorded daily in weeks 1 to 8; In the baseline week and week nine, the frequency and size of meal and drink were registered, body weight was registered weekly. Subsequently glucose, insulin and leptin levels were determined.

Results:

The results indicate that the STG lost more body weight compared to the SAG and CG, lower glucose levels and less food consumption compared to the CG, lower leptin levels compared to the SAG (p= 0.023) and frequency and size of drink. lower than SAG.

Conclusions:

It is concluded that liquid stevia reduces food and drink intake, generating a negative energy balance and loss of body weight in rats.