Artificial Sweeteners Cause Metabolic Disorders

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

Diet and Disease

What we eat affects how we live - disease free or with diseases. Several of the scientific research and clinical & epidemiological studies warn us about the ill effects of artificial, over-cooked, fried and so called fast food. Yet rarely such information impact our food choices or eating habit.

The choices we make with what to fill our platter does not depend on a logical and well thought out decision making process. Most of the times immediate urge to sooth taste buds leads to bad choices. On other occasions real limitations of availability of healthy options affects our choices. In any case we end up filling our tummies with so called junk food, which we know will harm us.

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We all know that eating green vegetables, colorful, seasonal and fresh fruits, and home prepared healthy meals are good choices. But most of us opt for calorie loaded, frozen, preservative added and overcooked meals on some pretext. We spend more or less equal amount of time and money in procuring either types of food items but if only a little thinking about long-term effects of these choices is practiced, we can save ourselves from many health problems. 

Scientific studies indicate that junk food items affect and alter physiology of our body cells drastically and propel them towards a state where only disease can develop. The high calorie besides being stored in body as increased weight, also fires the mitochondria excessively which leaks many highly reactive molecules called free radicals that destroy the basic fabric of our cells, the proteins, DNA and other molecules. These damages are initially small and do not cause major problems. With time, however, they accumulate and till then it becomes too late and managing the after effect becomes difficult, costly and some times irreversible. 

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The plants from where we derive most of our food supply including cereals, vegetables, fruits, herbs and spices possess many molecules, which evolved simultaneously with our own evolution. The prehistoric day-to-day interaction and co-evolution has resulted in a perfect bio-compatibility  of these molecules with our body cells and their functions. It provide certain definite advantages compared to drastically modified artificial meals which contain many synthetic chemicals.

The plant derived bio-molecules have been shown to be effective in preventing and/or treating a number of pathological conditions. For example, studies show that Lycopene, a molecule from tomato, could prevent heart diseases, strokes and even prostrate cancer in humans.  The examples of Turmeric derived curcumin, ginger, garlic,  and some other spices have filled the scientific literature. In all societies and cultures such examples are in plenty, and we just need to take note of them and make conscious decisions regarding what we bring to our plates.

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We must realize that wrong choices and modern food habit is creating consistent problems for our own health leading to increased incidence of metabolic diseases including obesity, diabetes, insulin resistance, cardiovascular diseases, cancer, and Alzheimer disease among others. An intelligent choice made once creates opportunity for repeat of similar choices, and same is true if one makes bad choices.

Therefore, our goal must be to eat healthy, live healthy and have a long and disease free life. This indeed is a life long investment to have a graceful aging without major disease and of course bitter pills. The choice is ours and so does the outcome :)

Why its still tough to do science in India

The scenario has certainly changed and improved since I was a graduate student, there is no doubt about it. But when I put things in perspective with other countries where our young minds migrate to advance their careers in science, I find a stark backwardness the way we do it here. It also explains why those young scientists, in most cases, do not want to return even when our government is offering lots of doles to attract them back. 

One of the main reasons for lagging behind is consistent lack in the supply of some of the basic items required to conduct the experiments. Take for example, if a student needs an antibody to quickly scan whether his hypothesis stand true or not, he needs to wait for at least one month after placing the order. Lack of timely availability of key materials delays things and increases the frustration and disenchantment of students. 

Now lets see why does this delay occur? The delay in procuring these basic items, in most cases, is because we do not manufacture these research materials here locally and for most of these items we are dependent upon other advanced countries. That is one the many reasons why things get delayed. I do agree that some of the items do get delivered in a couple of weeks time, but most of the items do not.

Another factor is ordering process in which the order itself takes two to three weeks or more to be processed due to apathy of our colleagues in the university offices. Either the said apathy is due not lack of understanding why and how importantly a particular item is needed, or its due to a deep rooted inertia and slow pace of working on files or deliberate attempt not to expedite the process. There may be many other reasons locally at other places, all of which may not be compressed in one blog. And these things cause further unnecessarily delay.

I have noticed another serious thing in research material procurement, and that is related with how much we pay for these items? It is exorbitant double or triple amount of money that we pay as compared to their price in those countries from where the items are procured.The reasons why we pay that much includes shipping charges, which is some times much more than the cost of the material shipped, import duty, taxes and profit margin of the vendor procuring the material for the scientist. 

No doubt that Government is trying to enhance the funding in science education and research and this investment is indeed encouraging and appreciable yet the pace and quality of research has not improved as expected. There are many bottlenecks which create hurdle in realizing the true potential of our young minds.

What needs to be done in this regard? I think to increase the pace and quality of our scientific research we must manufacture and create the material at home. We must encourage entrepreneurship so that investment can come in establishing companies to generate and make available research items such as antibodies, cell culture products, cells, and related consumables needed in a lab. For this government would be required to make clear policy of promoting such activity. In doing so proper guidelines of international standard are must so that we can assure the quality of the products. The country like China has done so much in so little time in this area, and it is showing in the quality of research and the quality and quantity of research papers that they publish in international journals. We must not lag behind and should take it with utmost urgency or we may miss the flight.

Next, we must create labs and lab products of international quality, train and hire our youths in these labs, create an efficient scientific work culture, make the science more lucrative as a career option so that a science graduate gets handsome payment and job option when he steps out with a degree. This will ensure that our youth do not look to go abroad to further their career in science and we loose them for ever.

I do not know, at this time, who will take these steps and many other things necessary to take India to another level of scientific prudence and productivity for which we have been known. But, as a scientist and educator we must discuss and deliberate at various fora, so that these words reach right ears. Indeed, we have had a rich scientific culture which needed to be revived and advanced. At least 

Scientific Innovations of Next Decade

As humans we always get enthralled by future predictions. Many seers, astrologers, tarot readers and fortune tellers live by their profession as many queue in front of them willing to know what is in store for them.  We all know Nostradamus and have read about his “prophecies” about various global events, or at least their correlations. But that may not hold true when it comes to predicting what will be discovered or invented scientifically, say in next decade, which will change how we live and many things will become a thing of past.

Just think of it, could our parents tell, when they were kid, that they would speak to a person thousands of miles away looking at them at the same time. The communication technology has innovated and developed so fast that it was indeed unimaginable just a decade or so back.

The medical field has also advanced dramatically, especially in the last couple of decade that many fatal diseases are now manageable, if not treatable. At least we now know enough that we can prevent many of them.

So how can we predict what would be innovated or discovered in science in next decade?

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Thomson Reuters have come up with a list of ten top innovations of the next decade based upon the analysis of patents and scientific data. Based upon the citation ranking and global patent data they identified ten emerging scientific front and top ten patent fields. From this data they identified ‘hot spots’ of innovation that will breakthrough of tomorrow.

1. According to their prediction the solar energy would become the main source of energy on earth as technology of harvesting sun light and converting it to usable energy by masses will improve significantly.

2. Higgs Boson project has been in much discussion lately in general public as well as in scientific community. In next decade scientists will be able to apply this technology for teleporting thing at the speed of light.

What’s teleporting? It may sound really futuristic, but it is simple scan of your body to the subatomic level and then sending the scanned data to where you want to be transported. Once transported to the chosen destination, a computer would convert that data and build you back, that too in a fraction of a second. A life size 3-D hologram is already in practice which will make teleporting possible.

3. Next innovation would be digitization of everything everywhere as the world will be wired and connected digitally. This would be possible by improvements in semiconductors, cell free networks and 5G technology. However, the gap in rich and poor countries may create a significant hurdle for this to happen. In many countries even 2G is not accessible while other advanced countries already started talking of 5G.

4. The study suggests that use of RNA technology will advance enough in next decade to create a platform for diagnosis and treatment of diseases like diabetes. 

5. Genome mapping and screening would be possible at birth with advancement in nanotechnology and data analysis tools. 

6. The advancement in the treatment of cancer would lead to more efficient and less toxic chemotherapy. 

7. The decline in the mental ability of people due to various reasons i.e. dementia, would get reduced significantly.

8. The eco-friendly and green technology advancement would lead to biodegradable cellulose-based packaging in place of petrolium-based packaging  .

9. Today the air transportation is mostly fuel-based but in next decade it may become possible that electric based air transportation will rule the airspace.

10. According to food and agriculture organization (FAO) more than 800 million that is one in eight people in the world are suffering from chronic hunger. It is predicted that the food shortage may become the thing of past in next one decade. The advancement in biotechnology and agricultural research would enhance the food production to meet the global need. However, will it really reach to every mouth and stomach will remain to be seen.

So, cross your finger and look ahead for a bright horizon which is as far as a decade from now and many things that we can only dream of today will become part of our routine…. Amen!!

To Save Mother Nature, Now is the time!