People who consumed the highest levels of certain artificial sweeteners — equivalent to just one diet soda a day — saw a significant decline in their ability to remember and recall words when compared to people who consumed the lowest levels, a new study found.
“People who consumed the most low- or no-calorie sweeteners showed a 62% faster global cognitive decline than those who consumed the lowest amount — that’s the equivalent of 1.6 — years of brain aging,” said lead study author Dr. Claudia Kimie Suemoto, an associate professor of geriatrics and director of the Biobank for Aging Studies at the University of São Paulo’s Medical School in Brazil.
People in the highest tier consumed an average of 191 milligrams, or about 1 teaspoon, of artificial sweeteners each day. To put that into perspective, one can of diet soda sweetened with aspartame contains around 200 to 300 milligrams, according to the World Health Organization.
A middle tier of people consumed an average of 66 milligrams of artificial sweeteners a day, with the lowest consumption at only 20 milligrams a day, according to Suemoto.
“Participants in the middle tier had a 35% faster rate of global cognitive decline — which is about 1.3 years of aging — than people who consumed the lowest amount of these sweeteners,” she said. “Now, the study is only observational — I cannot say to you that artificial sweeteners cause cognitive decline. We do know, however, that these sweeteners are associated with worse cognitive trajectories.”
Artificial sweeteners are often used to sweeten drinks and are linked to cognitive decline. Stefania Pelfini la Waziya/Moment RF/Getty Images
Non-nutritive sweeteners are often used in low-sugar ultraprocessed foods and specialty products created for people with diabetes, according to the study published Wednesday in Neurology, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology.
“The widespread assumption that LNCS (low- and no-calorie sweeteners) represent a safe sugar substitute may be misguided, especially given their ubiquity in products marketed as ‘healthier’ alternatives,” said Dr. Thomas Holland, writing in an editorial published in concert with the study.
“The biological mechanisms underlying these findings hold particular relevance for neurologists and health care professionals who manage patients with cerebrovascular disease and cognitive impairment,” said Holland, an instructor in the department of internal medicine, a division of digestive diseases and nutrition at Rush University’s Institute for Healthy Aging in Chicago.
The International Sweeteners Association (ISA), which represents the industry, told CNN in an email that sweeteners provide a safe and effective way to reduce sugar and calorie intake, a key public health goal for managing conditions such as obesity and type 2 diabetes.
“While the study has garnered media attention, it is essential to place its results within the broader, established scientific consensus on sweeteners safety,” the ISA said. “The safety of low/no calorie sweeteners has been consistently confirmed by leading global health authorities.”
Cognitive aging worse for people with diabetes
Researchers analyzed the diet and cognitive abilities of nearly 13,000 Brazilians between the ages of 35 and 75 participating in the Brazilian Longitudinal Study of Adult Health.
Dietary information was collected at the start of the study, or baseline, and a battery of cognitive tests were administered three times over an average of eight years. The tests assessed verbal fluency, working memory, word recall and processing speed.
Working memory is the ability to hold information needed to accomplish complex mental tasks such as learning, reasoning and problem-solving. It’s often measured by asking people to remember certain words or numbers in a series. Verbal fluency is the ability to rapidly and spontaneously produce appropriate words when speaking. It’s often measured by asking people to name as many words as they can which start with a specific letter.
If a person had diabetes, the decline in memory and global cognition was even more pronounced, Suemoto said, likely because their overall exposure may be higher than people without the condition.
Source: CNN
