A study published in Cell found that saccharin and sucralose, two artificial sweeteners, alter the gut microbiota and increase blood glucose levels: it has long been suspected, and now new tests have further strengthened findings from studies conducted in the 2014.
“When the first study was published in 2014, the food industry was furious, claiming the results were invalid because the tests were only conducted on mice,” said Robert Lustig, a neuroendocrinologist not involved in the research. So, after eight years, the Weizmann Institute of Science in Israel has decided to silence the doubts by conducting further tests on human volunteers: the new analyzes have done nothing but confirm what was previously detected, namely that some sweeteners alter the intestinal microbiota negatively affecting glucose tolerance – a measure of the body’s ability to move sugar from blood to muscle and fat – and potentially causing weight gain and diabetes.
I study. To reach these conclusions, the researchers recruited 120 volunteers and divided them into six groups. Four groups consumed sweeteners containing aspartame, saccharin, sucralose or stevia every day for two weeks; another group received the equivalent (5 grams) of glucose; the last group did not hire anything. All participants, who reported no sweeteners in the previous six months, had their blood glucose level measured before, during and after treatment to assess the body’s glycemic response, and their microbiome was analyzed. from saliva samples.
Microbiota and glucose. The results highlighted significant differences in gut bacteria between those who took sweeteners and those who did not – particularly in the volunteers who took sucralose and saccharin, whose blood glucose spikes were found. “Sweeteners themselves do not raise blood glucose levels,” stresses Jotham Suez, coordinator of the study, “but they do affect the body’s ability to manage it after eating or drinking.”
Cause effect. To confirm that sweeteners and glucose / microbiota were actually linked by a cause and effect relationship and not a simple correlation, the researchers had mice ingest the microbes extracted from the volunteers with a high level of glucose in the blood, noting that the rodents’ ability to regulate blood sugar levels was effectively inhibited.
However, Lustig recalls that this research does not give definitive answers, and that the evolution of glycemia and weight of the participants should be followed for at least six months or a year in order to have some more certainty. For their part, the authors explain that the next step is to be able to identify which intestinal microbes are connected to glucose intolerance, and in the meantime remember that “water is always the best choice”.