Tornado Alley (PROG)

[F6]

Artificial Sweeteners May Disrupt Body’s Blood Sugar Controls

Researchers say gut bacteria changed in subjects that consumed artificial sweeteners, leading to glucose intolerance.
September 17, 2014
http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2014/09/17/artificial-sweeteners-may-disrupt-bodys-blood-sugar-controls/

Health: The weighty costs of non-caloric sweeteners
Analyses in mice and humans indicate that non-caloric artificial sweeteners may promote obesity-associated metabolic changes by changing the function of the bacteria that colonize the gut.
17 September 2014
http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/vaop/ncurrent/full/nature13752.html

Artificial sweeteners induce glucose intolerance by altering the gut microbiota
17 September 2014
Non-caloric artificial sweeteners (NAS) are among the most widely used food additives worldwide, regularly consumed by lean and obese individuals alike. NAS consumption is considered safe and beneficial owing to their low caloric content, yet supporting scientific data remain sparse and controversial. Here we demonstrate that consumption of commonly used NAS formulations drives the development of glucose intolerance through induction of compositional and functional alterations to the intestinal microbiota. These NAS-mediated deleterious metabolic effects are abrogated by antibiotic treatment, and are fully transferrable to germ-free mice upon faecal transplantation of microbiota configurations from NAS-consuming mice, or of microbiota anaerobically incubated in the presence of NAS. We identify NAS-altered microbial metabolic pathways that are linked to host susceptibility to metabolic disease, and demonstrate similar NAS-induced dysbiosis and glucose intolerance in healthy human subjects. Collectively, our results link NAS consumption, dysbiosis and metabolic abnormalities, thereby calling for a reassessment of massive NAS usage.
http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/vaop/ncurrent/full/nature13793.html