When people taste something sweet—even if it doesn’t have sugar—their body sometimes starts releasing insulin right away, just from the taste.

Even artificial sweeteners that don’t contain sugar can make some people’s bodies release insulin just from tasting them.

Non-nutritive sweeteners elicit cephalic-phase insulin release in humans independent of carbohydrate content, leading to postprandial hypoglycemia and increased carbohydrate craving.

When overweight people taste a solid sweet made with artificial sweetener (like sucralose), their bodies sometimes release insulin right away—even though there are no calories—just like when they taste real sugar.