Dr. Mattes is a Distinguished Professor of Nutrition Science at Purdue University, Adjunct Associate Professor of Medicine at the Indiana University School of Medicine and Affiliated Scientist at the Monell Chemical Senses Center. His research focuses on the areas of taste function, hunger and satiety, food preferences, regulation of food intake in humans and human cephalic phase responses. At Purdue, Dr. Mattes is the Head of the Ingestive Behavior Research Center. He is a former president of the American Society for Nutrition and was a member of the 2020 Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee. He has authored over 300 publications. Dr. Mattes earned an undergraduate degree in biology and a Masters degree in Public Health from the University of Michigan as well as a doctorate degree in Human Nutrition from Cornell University. He conducted post-doctoral studies at the Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center and the Monell Chemical Senses Center.
This presentation will begin with a rationale for the use of low-calorie sweeteners (LCS), based on the review of evidence by the 2020 U.S. Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee. The point will then be made that consideration of the use of LCS by consumers, clinicians and policy often suffers from conflation of safety and efficacy issues. Toxicological issues will be covered in another presentation, but consumer concerns will be briefly outlined here with reference to costs and benefits of use. This will be followed by a critical assessment of the efficacy or LCS use for weight management (e.g., reviewing meta-analyses showing positive and negative outcomes). The final point to be made will be that going forward, it will be important to consider the health risks and benefits of each LCS individually rather than judge them as a class of compounds.