Since the first artificial sweetener was discovered in 1879, the food industry’s “miracle cures” have promised many calorie-free desserts.
But now he leaves a new studio published in the scientific journal Cell you see that some sweeteners may not be as harmless as many people think and that in the worst case they can increase the risk of diseases such as diabetes.
Below the recommended limit
Al in 2014 the researchers behind the study found that some artificial sweeteners attack microorganisms in the intestines of mice, causing harmful changes in their blood sugar levels.
And now they wanted to see if the same was true for humans.
The researchers surveyed more than 1,300 individuals to identify those who do not consume artificial sweeteners at all in their daily lives.
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Eventually, they had 120 participants split into six groups: two control groups and four groups who had to take a very small dose of less than 0.25 grams of aspartame, saccharin, stevia, or sucralose each day.
Participants were then given less artificial sweetener than the maximum intake recommended by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA).
Human poop transferred to mice
One of the biggest discoveries was that all four artificial sweeteners caused significant changes in gut microbes after just 14 days, and thus in the molecules that gut bacteria can secrete into the bloodstream.
And this shows that the complex community of microorganisms in our gut are sensitive to each of the artificial sweeteners in different ways, according to the researchers. One cause could be that sweeteners serve as food for the microorganisms that create an imbalance.
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The researchers also found that sucralose and saccharin also hindered the body’s ability to convert glucose, thus having a negative effect on the participants’ blood sugar. Impaired glucose tolerance is not a disease, but it can increase the risk of diabetes or cardiovascular disease.
The researchers did not find those changes in blood sugar levels in subjects treated with aspartame or stevia.
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To make sure there was a link between changes in the gut and changes in blood sugar, the researchers transferred tiny stool samples from the subjects to mice raised in a sterile environment.
The blood sugar in the mice seemed to change in the same way as in people who gave up stool.
According to the researchers, longer-term studies are needed to understand what changes in blood sugar and gut might mean for our health. But the discovery is still a revelation.
“We need to raise awareness that artificial sweeteners are not inactive in the human body as we initially thought,” says study leader Eran Elinav. in a press release.
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