For the diabetics, obese and
weight conscious individuals artificial sweeteners (AS) are considered safe
choice to help regulate the blood glucose level and manage body weight. Use of AS
considered good choice to sweeten the drinks and deserts as opposed to the
common table sugar mostly due to low amount or lack of calorie in them. Because of the same reason many food and beverage
companies market their “calorie free” “Lite” and “diet” drinks and food items to
cater the need of various “calorie conscious” customers.
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Food and drug administration (FDA)
of USA identifies some of these sweeteners as “high-intensity sweeteners” and
regulates them as food additive, meaning that they must undergo premarket review and approval by FDA before it
can be used in food. Accordingly
nearly six artificial sweeteners have been approved by FDA as food additives in
the USA. These are saccharin, aspartame, acesulfame potassium (Ace-K), sucralose, neotame, and advantame. The agency considers these FDA approved AS safe for the
general population in certain conditions of use1.
The use of AS has become more
common in general population due to reported ill effects of common sugar
including sudden increase in blood sugar, tooth decay, weight gain, obesity,
and an array of life style diseases such as hypertension, cardiovascular diseases,
type 2 diabetes and dementia among others. The increased use of AS has
propelled the scientists to examine the long-term effects of AS on humans.
In a recent study scientists have
observed that use of AS may lead to the development of glucose intolerance (GI).
GI is a hyperglycaemic state that is linked to insulin resistance and generally
occurs in pre-diabetic individuals. AS induced glucose intolerance, scientists
observed, develops due to alteration in the composition and function of the
microorganism or microbiota that live in our intestine.
The group of scientists led by
Jotham Suez2 found that when mice were fed AS, they showed altered GI
and also their intestinal microbiota composition changed from that of normal
mice not fed AS. Further, when the intestinal microbiota from AS consuming mice
was transferred to germ- free mice they also showed altered GI and other
metabolic defects. These defective metabolisms were abrogated by the use of
antibiotics which is known to kill the intestinal bacteria suggesting that the effects
were caused due to the changed intestinal microbiota.
When scientists compared the bacterial
population from glucose-fed verses AS-fed mice by genetic analysis, they found
that not only the composition, but the functions of the bacteria also had
changed in AS-fed mice. The bacteria from AS-fed mice intestine showed
increased carbohydrate degrading mechanisms. This means that they can degrade
even complex carbohydrates easily leading to elevated glucose levels that may
contribute to GI.
The scientists also examined and
compared the intestinal microbiota of AS consuming individuals with those who
did not consume AS and found that AS consuming people had different bacterial population
in their intestine which correlated with markers of obesity and GI. When they
fed AS to the volunteers, they showed increased blood glucose levels as well as
altered intestinal bacteria in just four days.
These scientific evidences clearly
indicate that consumption of AS is associated with increased GI, risk of
obesity related metabolic disorders and these changes are not direct but by
altering the bacterial community in the intestine. Thus, a caution regarding
the excessive use of AS as food additive needs reassessment and in-depth study
before being approved for use by general population
References:
1. http://www.fda.gov/Food/IngredientsPackagingLabeling/FoodAdditivesIngredients/ucm397716.htm
2. Artificial sweeteners induce glucose intolerance by altering
the gut microbiota. Suez J, Korem T, Zeevi D, Zilberman-Schapira G, Thaiss CA,
Maza O, Israeli D, Zmora N, Gilad S, Weinberger A, Kuperman Y, Harmelin A,
Kolodkin-Gal I, Shapiro H, Halpern Z, Segal E, Elinav E. Nature.
2014 Sep 17. doi: 10.1038/nature13793
