Aspartame sweetener, harmful to the heart and brain

The sweetener aspartame reduces body fat, but “could be harmful to the heart and brain”according to a study carried out with mice by the CIC biomaGUNE research center and the Biogipuzkoa Health Research Institute.

This research, carried out by researcher Irati Aiestaran, under the direction of professors Ikerbasque Jesús Ruiz Cabello from CIC biomaGUNE and Ian J. Holt from IIS Biogipuzkoa, has evaluated the effects of aspartame consumption long term in mice, exposing them for one year to a dose equivalent to one-sixth of the maximum recommended daily intake for humans.

In the study they have concluded that “aspartame does indeed reduce fat deposits (by 20%) in mice, but it does so at the cost of a mild cardiac hypertrophy and a decrease in cognitive performance“.

These findings indicate that, “while this sweetener may help achieve weight loss in mice, this is accompanied by pathophysiological changes in the heart and possibly the brain“, they add.

The daily dose of aspartame used in the study has been in human equivalence units of seven milligrams per kilo of body weight. The study demonstrates that long-term exposure to artificial sweeteners “can have a detrimental impact on organ function, even at low doses, suggesting that current consumption guidelines should be critically reviewed.”

This study, in which they have been studied for the first time the effects of ingesting aspartame for an entire year, contributes to “filling important knowledge gaps on the consequences of long-term consumption, and provides crucial information on the chronic effects derived from intake levels achievable through a regular diet“, highlighted the researchers from CIC biomaGUNE and the IIS Biogipuzkoa.

The same sources point out that in this research they have observed “effects that had not been described until now, probably due to the difficulty and duration of the study.”