Researchers have concluded from studies of mice that ingesting artificial sweeteners might lead to—of all things—obesity and related ailments such as diabetes. This study was not the first to note this link in animals, but it was the first to find evidence of a plausible cause: the sweeteners appear to change the population of intestinal bacteria that direct metabolism, the conversion of food to energy or stored fuel. And this result suggests the connection might also exist in humans.
In humans, as well as mice, the ability to digest and extract energy from our food is determined not only by our genes but also by the activity of the trillions of microbes that dwell within our digestive tract; collectively, these bacteria are known as the gut microbiome.
The Israeli study suggests that artificial sweeteners enhance the populations of gut bacteria that are more efficient at pulling energy from our food and turning that energy into fat. In other words, artificial sweeteners may favor the growth of bacteria that make more calories available to us, calories that can then find their way to our hips, thighs and midriffs
Bacterial gluttons
In the Israeli experiment, 10-week-old mice were fed a daily dose of aspartame, sucralose or saccharin. Another cluster of mice were given water laced with one of two natural sugars, glucose or sucrose. After 11 weeks, the mice receiving sugar were doing fine, whereas the mice fed artificial sweeteners had abnormally high blood sugar (glucose) levels, an indication that their tissues were having difficulty absorbing glucose from the blood. Left unchecked, this “glucose intolerance” can lead to a host of health problems, including diabetes and a heightened risk of liver and heart disease. But it is reversible: after the mice were treated with broad-spectrum antibiotics to kill all their gut bacteria, the microbial population eventually returned to its original makeup and balance, as did blood glucose control.
The burning question, of course, is whether artificial sweeteners can truly make humans sick and fat. Segal thinks they probably do, at least in some cases. He and his team analyzed a database of 381 men and women and found that those who used artificial sweeteners were more likely than others to be overweight. They were also more likely to have impaired glucose tolerance. Obesity is, in fact, well known as a risk factor for the development of glucose intolerance as well as more severe glucose-related ailments, such as diabetes.
These patterns do not prove that the sweeteners caused the problems. Indeed, it is quite possible that overweight people are simply more likely than others to consume artificial sweeteners. But Segal's team went further, testing the association directly in a small group of lean and healthy human volunteers who normally eschewed artificial sweeteners.
After consuming the U.S. Food and Drug Administration's maximum dose of saccharin over a period of five days, four of the seven subjects showed a reduced glucose response in addition to an abrupt change in their gut microbes. The three volunteers whose glucose tolerance did not dip showed no change in their gut microbes.
Although not everyone seems susceptible to this effect, the findings do warrant more research, the scientists say. The Israeli group concluded in its paper that artificial sweeteners “may have directly contributed to enhancing the exact epidemic that they themselves were intended to fight”—that is, the sweeteners may be making at least some of us heavier and more ill.
A cause-and-effect chain from sweeteners to microbes to obesity could explain some puzzles about obese people, says New York University gastroenterologist Ilseung Cho, who researches the role of gut bacteria in human disorders.
He points out that in studies, most people who switch from sugar to low-calorie sweeteners in an effort to lose weight fail to do so at the expected rate. “We've suspected for years that changes in gut bacteria may play some role in obesity,” he says, although it has been hard to pinpoint this effect. But Cho adds that it is clear that “whatever your normal diet is can have a huge impact on the bacterial population of your gut, an impact that is hard to overestimate. We know that we don't see the weight-loss benefit one would expect from these nonnutritive sweeteners, and a shift in the balance of gut bacteria may well be the reason, especially a shift that results in a change in hormonal balances. A hormone is like a force multiplier—and if a change in our gut microbes has an impact on hormones that control eating, well, that would explain a lot.”
The Israeli researchers agree that it is far too soon to conclude that artificial sweeteners cause metabolic disorders, but they and other scientists are convinced that at least one—saccharin—has a significant effect on the balance of microbes in the human gut.