Artificial Sweeteners are Toxic to Gut Bacteria, Study Shows

Sci-News.com ^ | Oct 3, 2018 | News Staff / Source

[ETL]

Artificial sweeteners are an important class of sugar substitutes known as high-intensity sweeteners.

These substances provide a sweeter taste than sugar and also enhance food flavor, while contributing very little to energy intake.

The Food and Drug Authority (FDA) has approved the use of six artificial sweeteners, which includes aspartame, sucralose, saccharin, advantame, neotame and acesulfame potassium-k (ace-k), in food and beverages. The recent EU legislation has also approved these artificial sweeteners.

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“The results of our study might help in understanding the relative toxicity of artificial sweeteners and the potential of negative effects on the gut microbial community as well as the environment,” saod study co-authors Professor Ariel Kushmaro, from the Ben-Gurion University of the Negev.

In the study, the relative toxicity of six FDA-approved artificial sweeteners and that of ten sport supplements containing these sweeteners were tested using genetically modified bioluminescent bacteria from E. coli.

“We modified bioluminescent E. coli bacteria, which luminesce when they detect toxicants and act as a sensing model representative of the complex microbial system,” Professor Kushmaro explained.

Toxic effects were found when the bacteria were exposed to certain concentrations of the artificial sweeteners.

“In the bioluminescence activity assay, two toxicity response patterns were observed, namely, the induction and inhibition of the bioluminescent signal,” the researchers said.

“An inhibition response pattern may be observed in the response of sucralose in all the tested bacterial strains. It is also observed in neotame. On the other hand, the induction response pattern may be observed in its response in saccharin, aspartame and ace-k.”

“This is further evidence that consumption of artificial sweeteners adversely affects gut microbial activity which can cause a wide range of health issues,” Professor Kushmaro said.

[ETL]

This illustration depicts a 3D computer-generated image of a group of Escherichia coli.
Image credit: James Archer, CDC.

[CondoleezzaProtege]

I get migraines from all fake sugars and artificial whats-it. I stick with pure cane sugar...in moderation.

[GOP Poet]

bookmark

[Mears]

I am a very old lady and have never used an artificial sweetener in my life-——not once.

.

[PGR88]

I used to drink diet sodas regularly. I developed what felt were like serious gas pains in my stomach. One doctor reflexively wanted to put me on acid reflux medicine.

I didn’t want to become a permanent addict and slave to big Pharma, so I looked at other options.

Met another gastroenterologist who was all about the pH environment of one’s gut. He had me cut out all diet sodas (for reasons mentioned) and regularly take grapefruit juice and vinegar to adjust pH levels of my system. Supplemented some pro-biotics, but said they would overall return naturally if pH and overall environment was adjusted.

My stomach problems disappeared almost immediately.

[wally_bert]

That makes two of us.

Add MSG and aspartame as migraine creators too. I do my best to avoid them. The stuff I have to avoid gets longer all the time.

[CondoleezzaProtege]

Praise God. And may you have many more SWEET years to come in His name. :)

[yesthatjallen]

‘I’ll have a Big Mac, a large fry, hot apple pie, and a diet Coke. I’m watching my weight.’

[Carriage Hill]

Truvia is my sweetener of choice, with honey coming in second.

https://www.google.com/search?client=opera&q=truvia&sourceid=opera&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8

[CondoleezzaProtege]

Add MSG

YUP! Knocks me out. I love Korean food for example, but can only have homemade dishes -- though it's becoming trendy among Asian restaurants to be MSG-free and organic. Hope it continues.

[Carriage Hill]

Truvia is my sweetener of choice, with honey coming in second.

https://www.google.com/search?client=opera&q=truvia&sourceid=opera&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8

[Mears]

Thanks you.

[Mears]

Oops,thank you! :-)

.

[Windflier]

My wife forbade all artificial sweeteners from our house twenty years ago.

Our kids missed out on a lot of crap, growing up.

[wally_bert]

The only chinese food I actually like is Crab Rangoon.

There is a local place nearby that makes it fresh every day. The stuff from there doesn’t seem to affect me.

I’ve cut back on that and most junk and fast food in general.

[Skywise]

So if I read this right... if their poop didn’t glow then the artificial sweeteners killed the bacteria? :)

[DannyTN]

I scanned the study but couldn't really determine how bad this is. And they should have compared them to sugar and Stevia.

The full study

• Dr. Stephen Guntry says sucralose is like setting a bomb off in your intestines?
• Is that worse than the brain lesions that aspartame caused in animals?
• The article mentions that saccharine is thought to be a weak mutagen.
• Is that before or after the process that caused cancer in rats was proven not to exist in humans? Or is the previous saccharine ban still weighing on researcher's thoughts?
• Would sugar have caused these bacteria to light up as stressed?
• What about stevia?
• Is a diabetic at more risk from artificial sweetners or sugar?
• Is avoidance of all the only option?
• Are there scenarios where the artificial sweetners don't cause weight gain and are better than sugar?
• Such as while on a low carb, a Keto diet or intermittent fasting?
• Will I ever have answers to some of these questions?

  We need better information and better comparisons.

[aomagrat]

Ever read the reviews of sugar free gummy bears on Amazon?

[DannyTN]

I didn’t get that.

I got that the bacteria light up when they are stressed. Some sweetners cause them to light up. Other sweetners disabled the light up process, but it implies the bacteria were still under stress. Or did they just assume that the bacteria would all be under stress regardless?

See prior post on all the questions I have.

[Signalman]

Overall, artificial sweeteners are worse than natural cane sugar. I’ve cut back drastically on both.