For years they have been promoted as healthy sugar alternatives, but scientific studies continue to point out health risks. A new study now reinforces concerns: six of the most commonly used sweeteners may have particularly harmful effects on the brain.
In recent years, the alerts have been multiplied, that ZAP has made known.
In 2022, a study suggested that the consumption of artificial sweeteners, especially aspartame and potassium accessulfame, increases the.
In March 2023, another concluded that the “zero sweetener” may increase the risk of; And in May of the same year, another study concluded that sweeteners increase the.
Still in 2023, in September, a study also concluded that aspartame can cause.
In July this year, one on a large -scale driven by a team of monash university researchers and published in Diabetes & Metabolism that drinking only one can of soda artificially sweetened a day can Increase the risk of diabetes by 32%.
Almost all sweeteners pose a risk
In a new study, a team of Brazilian researchers now concludes that Six of the adopters analyzed -aspartame, saccharine, accessulfame-k, erythritol, sorbitol and xylitol-represent health risks, having been associated with adverse effects on cognition in general.
The results of the study were presented in a published on Wednesday in the magazine Neurology.
To reach these conclusions, the scientists analyzed questionnaires filled by 12,772 adults in various regions of Brazilwith an average age of 52 years. Participants were divided into three groups depending on food consumption with artificial sweeteners.
The largest consumer group ingested an average of 191 mg per day – Approximately the existing amount of aspartame na can of “diet” soda. The intermediate group consumed about 64 mg/day, while the lowest consumption did not exceed, on average, the 20 mg/day.
The follow -up was over eight yearsduring which volunteers performed cognitive tests at the beginning, half and at the end of the study. Areas evaluated such as working memory, word recall, processing velocity and verbal fluency.
After adjusting the results to Factors such as natural agingblood pressure, history of cardiovascular disease and gender, the researchers concluded that the participants with greater ingestion of sweeteners presented a cognitive decline 62% faster than those in the lower consumption group – The equivalent of 1.6 years of brain aging.
Already the intermediate group revealed a deterioration 35% fastercorresponding to about 1.3 years of aging.
The study also found that the association between artificial sweeteners and cognitive decline It was stronger among people with diabetes.
“Although we have identified links to cognitive decline in middle-aged people, with both and diabetes, diabetic sick tend to appeal more to artificial sweeteners as sugar substitutes ”, explains Claudia Kimie Suemotoresearcher at the University of São Paulo and the main author of the article.
“More studies are needed to confirm these results and to evaluate if alternatives such as apple puree, honey, the syrup of Or coconut sugar can be effective options, ”adds the researcher from USP.
There was, however, Two less negative notes. Investigators did not find this association In people over 60not even in the case of consumption of Tagatosis – The only sweetener who doesn’t seem to have a connection increasing cognitive decline, regardless of the amount ingested.
“Low or null calorie sweeteners are often viewed as healthy sugar alternatives, but our results suggest that certain compounds may have negative effects on long -term brain health”Semoto concluded.
