The new study, published Wednesday in the journal Nature Metabolism, asked 75 people to consume one of three drinks on three separate occasions: plain water, water sweetened with table sugar (sucrose), and water sweetened with sucralose.

During each visit, the research team tested participants’ fasting blood sugar levels, followed by a brain scan called Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging, or fMRI, which tracks blood flow to capture activity in different regions of the brain.

“They came out of the scanner and consumed one of the three drinks, and went back into the scanner,” Page said.

During the brain scanning, Page and her team did another round of blood sampling at 10 minutes, 35 minutes and 120 minutes after consuming the drink and asked participants to rate their hunger level.

“(The study) is particularly strong because it used repeated measures within the same participants and included different methods such as brain imaging, blood draws, and subjective ratings to test their hypothesis,” said Kyle Burger, a scientist at the nonprofit Monell Chemical Senses Center in Philadelphia, which investigates human senses of taste and smell.