Consumption of artificial sweeteners may lead to heart disease

“These food additives should not be considered a healthy and safe alternative to sugar,” argue researchers.

BySumit Jha

Published Sep 10, 2022 | 8:30 AMUpdatedSep 10, 2022 | 8:30 AM

Artificial Sweetener

The consumption of artificial sweeteners — that enable the sweet taste but reduce the calorie content — increases the risk for cardiovascular diseases like stroke, according to new research.

A study published in the BMJ suggests a potential direct association between higher artificial sweetener consumption and increased cardiovascular disease risk, including heart attack and stroke.

The findings indicate that these food additives, consumed daily by millions of people and present in thousands of foods and drinks, should not be considered a good alternative to sugar, in line with the current position of several health agencies.

“These food additives should not be considered a healthy and safe alternative to sugar,” argued the researchers.

Artificial sweeteners are widely used as no or low-calorie alternatives to sugar.

They represent a $7.2-billion (₹57,000 crore) global market and are found in thousands of products worldwide, particularly ultra-processed foods such as artificially sweetened drinks, snacks, and low-calorie ready meals.

The study

A team of researchers at the French National Institute for Health and Medical Research (Inserm) drew on data from 103,388 participants (average age 42 years; 80 percent female) of the web-based NutriNet-Santé study, launched in France in 2009 to investigate relations between nutrition and health.

Artificial sweeteners from all dietary sources — beverages, tabletop sweeteners, and even dairy products — and by type — aspartame, acesulfame potassium, and sucralose — were included in the analysis.

In all, 37 percent of the participants consumed artificial sweeteners, with an average intake of 42.46 mg per day, which corresponds to approximately one individual packet of tabletop sweetener or 100 ml of diet soda.

During an average follow-up period of nine years, 1,502 cardiovascular events occurred. These included heart attack, angina(chest pain), angioplasty (a procedure to widen blocked or narrowed arteries from the heart), transient ischaemic attack, and stroke.

The researchers found that total artificial sweetener intake was associated with an increased risk of cardiovascular disease. The absolute rate was 346 per 100,000 people during nine years in higher consumers, and 314 per 100,000 people during nine years in non-consumers.

Artificial sweeteners were more particularly associated with the risk of cerebrovascular disease.

The intake of aspartame — a nutritive sweetener — was associated with an increased risk of cerebrovascular events (186 per 100,000 people during nine years).

Acesulfame potassium and sucralose were associated with an increased risk of coronary heart diseases.

For acesulfame potassium, the risk was 167 for artificial sweeter consumers and 164 for non-consumers per 100,000 person during nine years, while for sucralose it was 271 for consumers and 161 for non-consumers per 100,000 person during nine years, respectively.