Artificial sweeteners can harm sugar levels, shouldn’t be assumed safe – Israeli lab

An Israeli scientist says artificial sweeteners should no longer be considered safe, as his lab has published peer-reviewed research suggesting that they may actually increase sugar levels in the body.

Weizmann Institute of Science immunologist Prof. Aron Elinav told The Times of Israel that until it is proved that his team’s concerns are unfounded, “we should not assume they are safe.”

According to the study published in the journal Cell, consumption of saccharin and sucralose impairs the body’s ability to dispose of glucose in healthy adults.

It’s long-awaited human research from an Israeli team that raised alarm bells about artificial sweeteners eight years ago based on a study with rodents.

Scientists argued at the time that sugar substitutes were introduced to satisfy the sweet tooth with less damage to sugar levels, but they “may have contributed directly to the escalation of the exact epidemic they themselves were fighting.” intended to.”

Now, they have confirmed their rodent study by monitoring roughly dozens of adults who typically consume artificial sweeteners to avoid them.

“Our testing showed that non-nutritive sweeteners can impair glucose responses by altering our microbiome,” Elinav said.

Elinav said this strongly challenges the common belief that sweeteners provide a harmless effect of sweeteners without any health costs.

The research was led by Elenaw’s former graduate student and now principal investigator at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Dr. Jotham Swayze, together with Yotam Cohen, a graduate student in Elinav’s lab, and Weismann’s Prof. Aaron Segal.

The scientists experimented with the four most common sweeteners: saccharin, sucralose, aspartame and stevia. The first two significantly decreased glucose response, but all four of them caused changes in the gut bacteria, the microbiome.

An example illustrating glucose levels between test participants who took various sweeteners, and those who were part of the control groups. Control groups are labeled ‘control’ and ‘vehicle’. (courtesy of the Weisman Institute of Science)

Alinav said: “We found that the gut microbiome changes structure and function in response to consumption of all four sweeteners, meaning they are not inert to the human body.”

These changes were not detected in other volunteers who were in the control groups and therefore did not consume sweeteners.

Aran Alinav (courtesy of Eran Alinav)

In the experiment, scientists transplanted the feces of some people into rodents that had no gut bacteria of their own. They found that the mice whose glucose tolerance was affected the most by sweeteners also had a lower ability to dispose of glucose in their stool.

They say this strengthened their theory that sweetness is affecting the microbiome, and that the altered microbiome may affect glucose tolerance – so clearly that it has this effect even when transplanted into another species. .

“Our current results strongly suggest that artificial sweeteners are not inert to the human body or gut microbiome, as was once thought, and may potentially mediate changes in people, possibly the unique gut of different people. in a highly individualized manner arising from microbial populations.” Alinav said.

“In my opinion as a physician, once it has been noted that non-nutritive sweeteners are not inert to the human body, the burden of evidence to demonstrate or disprove their potential effects on human health encourages their use. Givers have a responsibility, and we should not assume they are safe until proven otherwise. Until then, caution is advised,” he said.

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