Experts, in a new study, suggested the intake of artificial sweetenersfound in diet sodas and sugar-free options, even in low doses, can damage the heart and brain over time, even in low doses.
Sweeteners such as aspartame and sorbitol are widely used in beverages, desserts, chewing gum, dairy products, cereals, and some over-the-counter medications. Many people turn to these alternatives, often marketed as a safer way to satisfy their sweet tooth, in hopes of reducing sugar-related health risks.
In the study, mice were given a dose of 7 mg of aspartame per kilogram of body weight. This was administered for three consecutive days every two weeks.
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The researchers, led by Irati Aiestaran-Zelaia and colleagues, found that while aspartame reduced body fat by about 20 percent, it also caused abnormal thickening of the heart muscle, as well as signs of decreased cognitive performance.
During a one-year follow-up, mice exposed to aspartame showed a reduction in cardiac output in both ventricles: a 26 percent drop in the left ventricle and a 20 percent drop in the right ventricle.
The researchers also found that septal curvature, the thick muscular wall that separates the right and left ventricles of the heart, was reduced by 25 percent.
In an article in the journal Biomedicine and Pharmacotherapy, researchers at the San Sebastián Cooperative Research Center in Biomaterials urged officials to review current aspartame consumption patterns.
They said: “Aspartame effectively reduces fat deposits by 20 percent in mice, but does so at the cost of mild cardiac hypertrophy and decreased cognitive performance. Although this sweetener may help achieve weight loss in mice, it is accompanied by pathophysiological changes in the heart and possibly the brain.
“‘These findings suggest that aspartame at permitted doses may compromise major organ function, so it would be advisable to reevaluate the safety limits for humans.”
Research suggested that aspartame, even at doses well below current regulatory limits, may have negative impacts on heart and brain function in animal models. The results have led the research team to recommend a critical reassessment of the current human safety limits for aspartame.
Concerns have also previously been raised about links between artificial sweeteners and certain cancers, high blood pressure and strokes.
These fears intensified in 2023, after the World Health Organization (WHO) classified aspartame as “possibly carcinogenic to humans.”