Artificial sweetener can seriously damage the intestines, according to new research

A laboratory study has found that an artificial sweetener used in many foods, including candy, cake, juice, yogurt and chewing gum, causes significant intestinal damage.

The new study published in the journal Limits in nutritionindicates that even small doses of neotame, a derivative of aspartame, can cause damage to the intestines, potentially leading to inflammation, insulin resistance and even serious blood infections, the research team said.

“There is now growing awareness of the health implications of sweeteners such as saccharin, sucralose and aspartame, with our own previous work showing the problems they can cause to the gut lining and the damage to the ‘good bacteria’ that live in our form intestines. gut,” said Dr. Havovi Chichger, senior author of the work from Anglia Ruskin University in Great Britain in a press release.

Neotame is a newer sweetener and wax approved by the FDA for use in most foods in 2002. But the study found that the sweetener can damage the digestive tract in numerous different ways; directly by causing the death of the cells that line the intestines and allow nutrient absorption, and also directly by damaging the “good” bacteria in the gut microbiome that are essential for digestion.

The study tested neotame on some types of bacteria commonly found in the microbiome and found that the sweetener influenced the normally beneficial bacteria to behave abnormally. The researchers also combined the bacteria with intestinal cells in a dish and tested the effect of neotame. They found that the bacteria became toxic to the cells by attaching to them and sometimes even invading them, causing cell death.

“This can lead to a range of potential health problems including diarrhoea, intestinal inflammation and even infections such as blood poisoning if the bacteria enter the bloodstream,” Dr Chichger added.

Aspartame, neotame’s older sibling, is particularly controversial, with some studies suggesting it could be carcinogenic, but often in higher doses than most people reasonably consume. For example the American Cancer Society the website states: “The FDA estimates that a person weighing 60 kg would need to consume approximately 75 packets of aspartame per day to reach the upper limit of tolerable daily intake of 50 mg/kg/day.

The World Health Organization’s International Agency for Research on Cancer classifies aspartame as “possibly carcinogenic to humans” based on limited evidence linking it to the development of liver cancer in humans. But regulatory organizations generally summarize that there is no conclusive evidence that aspartame causes cancer at doses that people normally consume.

However, the new research was not about cancer and indicates that sweeteners can have other negative health consequences.

“It is important to study sweeteners that have recently been introduced and our new research shows that neotame causes similar problems, including making gut bacteria sick,” said Dr Chichger, who has conducted several previous studies on the impact of sweeteners on the gut health. . The study also tested neotame at concentrations at or below the recommended daily allowance for humans.

“Our findings demonstrate the need to better understand common food additives and the molecular mechanisms underlying potential negative health effects,” said Dr. Chichger.