Today, people who are trying to keep their weight in check often succumb to non-nutritive sweeteners that offer the necessary levels of sweetness minus the calories that come with it.
However, a new study has now found that these sugar substitutes can, in the long run, affect the microbiomes in a way that alters their blood sugar levels.
The recent study is based on a 2014 study by immunologist and microbiome researcher Eran Elinav from the Weizmann Institute of Science and the German National Cancer Center who had found the effect of non-nutritive sweeteners affecting microbiomes of mice that changed their glycemic response. The recent study by Elinav looked at similar effects but on humans.?
Researchers looked at over 1,300 individuals who strictly consumed non-nutritive sweeteners in their day-to-day lives and identified a group of 120 individuals. These were then split into six groups -- two controls, and four who ingested well below the FDA daily allowances of either aspartame, saccharin, stevia or sucralose.?
Elinav explained that in individuals who consumed non-nutritive sweeteners, distinct changes in composition and function of gut microbes were observed, along with the molecules they secrete into the peripheral blood. This hinted that gut microbes in the human body are responsive to each of these sweeteners.?
When looking at non-nutritive sweeteners as a group, they found that two of the non-nutritive sweeteners -- saccharin and sucralose considerably affected glucose tolerance in healthy adults, with changes in microbes being highly correlated with the alterations noted in people¡¯s glycemic responses.
To form causation, Elinav and his team shifted microbial samples from the study subjects to germ-free mice that had no microbiome of their own.
Elinav explained, "The results were quite striking. In all of the non-nutritive sweetener groups, but in none of the controls, when we transferred into these sterile mice the microbiome of the top responder individuals collected at a time point in which they were consuming the respective non-nutritive sweeteners, the recipient mice developed glycemic alterations that very significantly mirrored those of the donor individuals.¡±
He added, ¡°In contrast, the bottom responders' microbiomes were mostly unable to elicit such glycemic responses. These results suggest that the microbiome changes in response to human consumption of non-nutritive sweetener may, at times, induce glycemic changes in consumers in a highly personalized manner."
Elinav highlights that the effects of sweeteners depend from person to person due to the unique composition of the microbiome. However, he highlights that awareness needs to be made of the fact that non-nutritive sweeteners are not inert to the human body as originally believed.