Low-Calorie Sweeteners May Promote Metabolic Syndrome

New data presented at the annual meeting of the Endocrine Society, held in Chicago, suggests that consuming low-calorie sweeteners could put people at risk of metabolic syndrome.

Around 34% of adults in the United States have metabolic syndrome, the umbrella term for: high blood pressure; high blood sugar; high cholesterol levels; and abdominal fat.
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We know that metabolic syndrome doubles the risk of heart disease and disease of the blood vessels, putting individuals at risk of heart disease and stroke. People with metabolic syndrome are also 3 to 5 times more likely to develop type 2 diabetes.

In this new study, researchers from George Washington University examined the effects of a low-calorie sweetener called sucralose on human stem cells from fat tissue. These were experimented on in petri dishes that simulated an obesity-promoting environment.

The scientists mimicked the typical concentration of sucralose in the blood of people who consume high quantities of low-calorie sweeteners. When this was administered to the stem cells, the team noticed increased expression of genes linked with fat production and inflammation.
The authors followed this up with a separate experiment involving biopsy samples of abdominal fat from people who were regular consumers of low-calorie sweeteners. In fat samples from people that were a healthy weight, they did not find a significant increase in gene expression, but in the fat samples from overweight or obese participants, there was significant overexpression of fat-producing and inflammation-inducing genes.

Study co-author Sabyasachi Sen, who is an associate professor of medicine at George Washington University, describes the results. “Our stem cell-based studies indicate that low-calorie sweeteners promote additional fat accumulation within the cells compared with cells not exposed to these substances, in a dose-dependent fashion – meaning that as the dose of sucralose in increased more cells showed increased fat droplet accumulation.”

Could Artificial Sweeteners Promote Diabetes and Obesity?

For those who are diabetic or dieting, you may think artificial sweeteners are your best friend.

They allow you to get the taste of sugar from foods and beverages without the elevated blood sugar levels or calories. But a new study suggests this may not be the case; artificial sweeteners could actually promote obesity and diabetes.

The research team, including Eran Elinav of the Department of Immunology at the Weizmann Institute of Science in Israel, recently published their findings in the journal Nature.

Because artificial sweeteners are low calorie and do not contain carbohydrates, they are often recommended to help with weight loss or to treat or prevent metabolic disorders, such as type 2 diabetes.

However, Elinav and colleagues note that, although some studies support such recommendations, others have indicated that artificial sweeteners actually increase weight gain and raise the risk of metabolic disorders. A study from the Washington University School of Medicine published last year claimed the artificial sweetener sucralose is linked to increased glucose and insulin levels.

“Despite the controversial data, the FDA approved six NAS (non-caloric artificial sweetener) products for use in the US,” the researchers note. These are saccharin, sucralose, aspartame, advantame, neotame and acesulfame potassium.

In this latest study, the team investigated how artificial sweeteners affected the metabolism of mice. For 11 weeks, some mice were supplied with drinking water supplemented with an artificial sweetener – either saccharin, sucralose or aspartame – and glucose, while others drank just water alone or water containing only sugar.

The team found that the mice that drank the water containing glucose and an artificial sweetener developed glucose intolerance – elevated blood sugar levels, whereas the mice that drank water alone or water containing only sugar did not.