Food for thought: Artificial Sweetener Aspartame shows multigenerational anxiety in mice

[MedRxx]

Exposure of mice to aspartame, an artificial sweetener found in nearly 5,000 diet foods and drinks, at doses equivalent to below 15% of the FDA recommended maximum daily intake for humans, produces anxiety-like behavior. The anxiety is alleviated by diazepam, a drug used in the treatment of generalized anxiety disorder. The aspartame exposure produces changes in the expression of genes regulating excitation-inhibition balance in the amygdala, a brain region that regulates anxiety and fear. The anxiety, its response to diazepam and the changes in amygdala gene expression are not limited to the aspartame-exposed individuals but also appear in up to two generations descending from the aspartame-exposed males.

Ref: Transgenerational transmission of aspartame-induced anxiety and changes in glutamate-GABA signaling and gene expression in the amygdala.
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 2022; 119 (49) DOI: 10.1073/pnas.2213120119

Gosh. Is it possible that aspartame (NutraSweet™) might be worse for you than the sugar it was developed to replace?

There's no question that low-calorie sweeteners provide a sugary flavor without the calories of sugar. But the latest evidence suggests that might not lead to a positive effect on health or weight...

...research review published in BMJ found that the evidence that sweeteners aid oral health, blood sugar levels, or other health problems is extremely limited. While the Food and Drug Administration considers low-calorie sweeteners safe for consumption, some scientists say we don't have the data to exclude potential harms. Another recent study published in the journal Stroke found that women 50 and older who drank 24 or more ounces (two cans) of diet soda a day were 23 percent more likely to have a stroke than those who drank less than 12 ounces a week. Previous research has linked low-calorie sweeteners to possible heart problems, type 2 diabetes, and potentially harmful changes in the gut microbiome.

https://www.consumerreports.org/sugar-sweeteners/the-truth-about-sugar-vs-artificial-sweeteners/

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[femmedem]

1. Wow.

I'm going to share this with my anxiety-ridden friend who drinks diet soda daily.
Thanks for posting.

[LunaSea]

2. If bugs won't eat it

I probably shouldn't either.

[TexLaProgressive]

3. This is personally interesting to me.

I was diagnosed with type 2 diabetes mellitus 33 years ago. One of the changes I made was to drink Diet Coke instead of Coke Classic. I was drinking 4 to 6 cans per day. After a year or so I began experiencing strange nerve sensations. My feet became ultra sensitive and I had allodynia, painful skin without any visible signs. The other thing, and this still happens a bit, a rush of feeling that began at the feet to the upper thighs from visible stimulus. It could be seeing a runner slide into home plate or something similar in a movie or TV show.

I read that aspartame had a slight analgesic effect and that some kids were abusing large quantities of Equal in attempts to get high. I decided to remove all aspartame from my diet. The symptoms lessened over a few months. The rush of feeling still occurs on occasion but only to the bottoms of my feet.

I have not experienced any ill effects from other low/no calorie sweeteners. I don’t consume much of those.

I found the following paper on aspartame causing damage to the myelin sheath of the nerves, especially the sciatic nerve in rats.

Abstract
Aspartame is the most widely used artificial sweetener worldwide. There is much controversy about the effect of aspartame on different cells in the body. The aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of aspartame on the structure of the sciatic nerve. Thirty adult male albino rats were divided into three groups. Group I served as control; Group II received aspartame orally in a dose of 250 mg/kg/d for 3 months; Group III received aspartame at the same dose and for the same period, and was allowed to recover for 1 month. Specimens of sciatic nerve were processed, and semithin and ultrathin sections were examined by light and electron microscopy. A morphometric study was done to evaluate the g-ratio, which is the ratio between the axon diameter and total fiber diameter. Long-term aspartame administration resulted in many degenerative changes affecting mainly the myelin sheath, in the form of focal and extensive demyelination; disruption and splitting of myelin lamellae with loss of compact lamellar structure; and excessive enfolding with irregular thickening of myelin sheaths. Less frequent than those observed in the myelin sheath, some axonal changes were detected, such as compression and distortion. Dilated rough endoplasmic reticulum and vacuolation of the cytoplasm of Schwann cells were also detected. Partial improvement was observed in the recovery group. It was concluded that long-term administration of aspartame had a harmful effect on the structure of sciatic nerve and 1 month stoppage of aspartame was not enough to achieve complete recovery.

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2213879X16000171