A recent study by bmj It showed that people who were high consumers of artificial sweeteners had an increased risk of heart disease, including stroke, compared to non-consumers.
The researchers noted that three artificial sweeteners in particular were associated with a higher risk.
According to them, aspartame intake was associated with an increased risk of cerebrovascular events, and acesulfame potassium and sucralose were associated with an increased risk of coronary heart disease.
“Aspartame intake was associated with an increased risk of cerebrovascular events (186 and 151 per 100,000 person years in high and non-consumers, respectively), whereas acesulfame potassium and sucralose were associated with an increased risk of coronary heart disease (acesulfame potassium: 167). and 164 per 100,000 person years; sucralose: 271 and 161 per 100,000 person years in high and non-consumers, respectively), the study showed.
“Our results indicate that these food additives, consumed daily by millions of people and present in thousands of foods and beverages, are not considered a healthy and safe alternative to sugar in line with the current position of many health agencies. Must be considered,” the author wrote.
“Occasional artificial sweetener consumption is unlikely to have a strong effect on CVD risk, and so if some consumption is missed, it probably would have had a lesser effect on study results,” he said.
According to Market Data Forest, artificial sweeteners currently represent a $7200m (£5900m; €7000m) market globally, with a 5 percent annual growth projected to achieve $9700m by 2028.
A team of researchers from the French National Institute for Health and Medical Research (Inserm) and their colleagues drew on data from more than 100,000 participants. The mean age of the participants was 42 years of which 79.8 percent were female.
The study was based on the prospective Nutrinet-Sante e-cohort launched in France in May 2009 to investigate the relationship between nutrition and health. Dietary intake and intake of artificial sweeteners were assessed by repeated 24-hour dietary records and taking into account a range of potentially influential health, lifestyle and sociodemographic factors.
Artificial sweeteners and types (aspartame, acesulfame potassium, and sucralose) from all dietary sources (beverages, table top sweeteners, dairy products, etc.) were included in the analysis.
A total of 37 percent of participants consumed artificial sweeteners, with an average intake of 42.46 mg/day, which roughly corresponds to an individual packet of table top sweetener or 100 mL of diet soda.
Compared to non-consumers, high consumers are younger, have a higher body mass index, are more likely to smoke, are less physically active, and follow a weight-loss diet. They had lower total energy intake, and lower alcohol, saturated and polyunsaturated fat, fiber, carbohydrate, fruit and vegetable intake, and higher intake of sodium, red and processed meat, dairy products, and no-sugar beverages. However, the researchers took these differences into account in their analysis.
During a mean follow-up period of nine years, 1,502 cardiovascular events occurred including heart attack, angina, angioplasty, transient ischemic attack and stroke.
It found that total artificial sweetener intake was associated with an increased risk of cardiovascular disease (absolute rate 346 per 100,000 person years in high consumers and 314 per 100,000 person years in non-consumers).
Artificial sweeteners were more specifically associated with cerebrovascular disease risk (absolute rates 195 and 150 per 100,000 person years in high and non-consumers, respectively).
The research further stated that since this is an observational study, causation cannot be established, nor can the researchers rule out the possibility that other unknown (confounding) factors may have influenced their results.
They further state that further prospective cohort studies are needed to confirm these results and that experimental studies are needed to elucidate the biological pathways. In the meantime, they suggest that this study provides important insight into the context of artificial sweetener reevaluations currently being conducted by the European Food Safety Authority, the World Health Organization and other health agencies.
catch all business News, market news, today’s fresh news events and breaking news Updates on Live Mint. download mint news app To get daily market updates.