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Your intestine is teeming with bacteria. This ecosystem of microbes allows you to stay healthy – but when it is unbalanced, it can lead to various diseases. A new study reveals that artificial sweeteners, such as those contained in diet sodas, can damage some of these bacteria.
But one important caveat is that the new study was conducted in the laboratory, in test tubes, and not in humans or laboratory animals. Still, researchers have hypothesized that the findings could apply to humans; that is, the chemicals contained in artificial sweeteners could harm the intestinal microbiome, according to the study published on September 25 in the journal Molecules.
However, an expert told Live Science that this study did not support this conclusion, although research has shown that artificial sweeteners may be harmful to intestinal bacteria. [5 Ways Gut Bacteria Affect Your Health]
In the new study, researchers from Nanyang Technology Universities in Singapore, Ben Gurion and Volcani, both in Israel, collaborated to test the effects of exposure Escherichia coli Bacteria in the laboratory with six artificial sweeteners approved by the FDA and the 10 sports supplements that contain them. (Although E. coli is often associated with food poisoning, many strains of this bacteria are naturally found in the gut and do not cause damage.)
The researchers used different types of E. coli bacteria modified to produce bioluminescent light under different stress conditions: for example, one type shines if its DNA is damaged, another shines if its cell walls or its proteins are damaged.
So, depending on the type of modification E. coli After adding artificial sweeteners and sports supplements to the scientists, the researchers were able to determine the type of damage caused.
The teams found that "each sweetener creates[s] A specific fingerprint using three bands of bacteria ", each band indicating a different type of damage," said the study's lead author, Evgeni Eltzov, a researcher at the Volcani Center. The color pattern was unique for each sweetener; So, all the sweeteners have damaged the bacteria, explained Eltzov.
But Eltzov noted that these findings did not mean that the chemicals were "toxic" to humans. More research is needed to make this decision. But based on this study, "I think it's best not to drink [diet soda]"he told Live Science.
Indeed, the results of the laboratory experiment do not translate directly into the man. For example, the artificial sweetener concentrations presented to the bacteria were greater than what a person would consume in a box of diet sodas, said Dr. Kristina Rother, principal investigator at the National Institute. of diabetes, digestive and renal diseases of the National Institutes of Health who did not participate in the study. And it's even assuming that all the sweetener reaches the intestine, which is not the case, she added.
In addition, the intestinal microbiome consists of a complex system of different types of bacteria that interact in different ways. it's not just an intestine filled with E. coli. So, this study "does not tell us what's going on in real life, it tells us what's going on in a test tube," Rother told Live Science. "Real life is just more complicated."
Rother however noted that she was criticizing artificial sweeteners and advises to stay out of the way. Studies in animals have always shown that "artificial sweeteners worsen the profile of the gut microbiome," she said. "I have not seen any studies claiming that any of these six FDA-approved sweeteners improves the gut microbiome.
"So, my recommendation is very simple and very difficult to achieve: live well, eat little processed food," she said. And do not replace exercise with sports drinks, she added.
Rother said the study methods, if made more sensitive, could be useful for future experiments. The researchers also said that their technique could be used to test the amount of artificial sweetener that escapes into the environment and contaminates it.
Originally posted on Live Science.
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