Artificial sweetener found to be genotoxic
A new scientific study [1] has found that metabolising sucralose, a widely used artificial sweetener sold under the trade name Splenda, results in the formation of a genotoxic compound, sucralose-6-acetate.
The compound is also found in trace amounts in the sweetener itself, and the finding raises questions about how the sweetener may contribute to health problems. Genotoxic compounds break up DNA in cells, causing mutations, which may lead to cancer. Earlier research by the scientific team established that several fat-soluble compounds are produced in the gut after sucralose ingestion. One of these compounds is sucralose-6-acetate.
“Our new work establishes that sucralose-6-acetate is genotoxic,” says Susan Schiffman, corresponding author of the study and an adjunct professor in the joint department of biomedical engineering at North Carolina State University and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. “We also found that trace amounts of sucralose-6-acetate can be found in off-the-shelf sucralose, even before it is consumed and metabolized.
“To put this in context, the European Food Safety Authority has a threshold of toxico-logical concern for all genotoxic substances of 0.15 micrograms per person per day,”
Schiffman says. “Our work suggests that the trace amounts of sucralose-6-acetate in a single, daily sucralose-sweetened drink exceed that threshold. And that’s not even accounting for the amount of sucralose-6-acetate produced as metabolites after people consume sucralose.” “In short, we found that sucralose-6-acetate is genotoxic, and that it effectively broke up DNA in cells that were exposed to the chemical,” Schiffman says.
The researchers also conducted in vitro tests that exposed human gut tissues to sucralose-6-acetate. “Other studies have found that sucralose can adversely affect gut health, so we wanted to see what might be happening there,”
Schiffman says. “When we exposed sucralose and sucralose-6-acetate to gut epithelial tissues – the tissue that lines your gut wall – we found that both chemicals cause ‘leaky gut.’ Basically, they make the wall of the gut more permeable. The chemicals damage the ‘tight junctions,’ or interfaces, where cells in the gut wall connect to each other.
“A leaky gut is problematic, because it means that things that would normally be flushed out of the body in faeces are instead leaking out of the gut and being absorbed into the bloodstream.” The researchers also looked at the genetic activity of the gut cells to see how they responded to the presence of sucralose-6-acetate.
“We found that gut cells exposed to sucralose-6-acetate had increased activity in genes related to oxidative stress, inflammation and carcinogenicity,” Schiffman says. “This work raises a host of concerns about the potential health effects associated with sucralose and its metabolites. It’s time to revisit the safety and regulatory status of sucralose, because the evidence is mounting that it carries significant risks. If nothing else, I encourage people to avoid products containing sucralose. It’s something you should not be eating.”
Reference:
1. Susan S. Schiffman, Elizabeth H. Scholl, Terrence S. Furey & H. Troy Nagle (2023) Toxicological and pharmacokinetic properties of sucralose-6-acetate and its parent sucralose: in vitro screening assays, Journal of Toxicology and Environmental Health, Part B, doi: https://doi.org/10.1080/10937404.2023.2213903
