Written By: Prerna Mittra | Updated : April 25, 2024 4:31 PM IST
Sugar overconsumption is linked to a rise in the incidence of non-communicable diseases like diabetes, cardiovascular diseases, and cancer. (Photo: Freepik)
There are many people who have a weakness for everything sweet. They are fans of cakes and pastries, and sweetened drinks and such. But, a new study has found that a sweetener used in cakes, soft drinks and chewing gums can 'seriously damage' your health by weakening the gut. Published in frontiersin.org, the study stated that consumption of even a small amount of the sweetener 'neotame' can cause irritable bowel syndrome (IBS), insulin resistance, and even sepsis. It mentioned that artificial sweeteners have emerged as an 'essential dietary additive', serving as substitutes for sugar in low-calorie foods and beverages, as well as pharmaceuticals and cosmetics. In fact, global market reports on artificial sweeteners suggest saccharin, sucralose, aspartame, neotame, acesulfame potassium, and cyclamate are 'widely-accepted' artificial sweeteners approved as 'safe' by the US Food and Drug Administration.
Citing the study and its findings, a Guardian report mentioned that some of the new generation of sweeteners that give food products a 'super-sweet taste' can have a 'toxic effect' on health. Dr Havovi Chichger, a senior author of the study, said while sweeteners could be a healthier alternative to sugar, some could also harm consumers. Neotame, for instance, was developed in 2002 as a 'substitute for aspartame', a sweetener that raised concerns, and has become 'widely used' in recent years. In the UK, it is often referred to as 'E961' on the list of ingredients found on labels.
Chichger, an associate professor at Anglia Ruskin University, and the study's co-author Dr Aparna Shil of Jahangirnagar University in Bangladesh said neotame carried a 'threat' to health because it could 'damage the intestine by causing good bacteria to become diseased and invade the gut wall', leading to illnesses in the process, owing to the fact that the epithelial barrier -- a part of the gut wall -- breaks down.
The findings are reportedly the first to show that neotame can have a 'damaging impact' on healthy gut bacteria.
"There is now growing awareness of the health impacts of sweeteners such as saccharin, sucralose and aspartame, with our own previous work demonstrating the problems they can cause to the wall of the intestine and the damage to the 'good bacteria' which form in our gut. This can lead to a range of potential health issues including diarrhoea, intestinal inflammation, and even infections such as septicaemia if the bacteria were to enter the bloodstream," Chichger warned, adding that it is important to also study sweeteners that have been introduced more recently.
"Our new research demonstrates that neotame causes similar problems, including gut bacteria becoming diseased."
As mentioned earlier, sweeteners serve as substitutes for sugar in low-calorie foods and beverages. But, many studies have found the link between bad gut health and consumption of sweet foods. According to the National Institutes of Health (NIH), sugar overconsumption is linked to a rise in the incidence of non-communicable diseases like diabetes, cardiovascular diseases, and cancer. In fact, excessive intake of free sugars can cause many of the same health problems as excessive alcohol consumption. "High sugar intake is associated with multiple tissue and organ dysfunctions. Both hyperglycemia and excessive sugar intake disrupt the intestinal barrier, thus increasing gut permeability and causing profound gut microbiota dysbiosis, which results in a disturbance in mucosal immunity that enhances infection susceptibility," it warns.
