{"id":359,"date":"2019-12-17T19:57:18","date_gmt":"2019-12-17T19:57:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/digitalprojects.davidson.edu\/writingscience\/?p=359"},"modified":"2020-02-14T15:11:49","modified_gmt":"2020-02-14T15:11:49","slug":"artificial-sweeteners-doing-more-than-you-expect","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/digitalprojects.davidson.edu\/writingscience\/post-1-spring-2019\/artificial-sweeteners-doing-more-than-you-expect\/","title":{"rendered":"Artificial Sweeteners: Doing More than you Expect"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

R. Fenner\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Previous\nstudies have indicated that artificial sweeteners (AS) alter intestinal\nmicrobiota and cause glucose intolerance, which is a condition that precedes\ntype-2 diabetes. In a 2018 study*, obese, glucose-intolerant mice with\nAS-altered microbiota underwent fecal transplants from lean mice. Populating\ntheir gut with new bacteria caused the mice to lose weight. These fecal\ntransplants demonstrated that AS alter intestinal microbiomes which lead to\npoor health. Therefore, even though the scientific community has not formally\nconcluded that AS cause conditions such as weight gain and diabetes, the\nresearch does show that they are disrupting the delicate symbiosis that\ncontrols our nutrient intake.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The figure details the weight gain of obese mice, those that were obese but underwent a fecal transplant, and lean mice with normal microbiota. Eight of each type were tested during the 17 week- long experiment. Between the lean and obese subjects, there was a sizeable difference in weight, being about 45%. The obese and transplant-recipient mice began the study at similar weights, and yet their weights diverged over the 17 weeks. These data however, do not indicate that the transplant had a 100% success rate. The transplant recipients\u2019 weight was not comparable to the lean mice by week 17, which could indicate that the altered microbiota were not the only cause of the mice\u2019s obesity. While a compelling thought, that assumption is bold considering that the transplant mice were about 11% more lean than their obese counterparts. Even without a return to a lean weight, the mice\u2019s weight reduction is significant enough to conclude that the microbiota were directly involved with their changes in mass.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Green= obese mice w. altered microbiota. Red= previously obese mice w. fecal transplant.
Black= lean mice. *(Bidu et al.)<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Bidu\net al. support previous findings that AS are changing the bacteria in our\nintestinal tracts\u2014putting us at risk for obesity. With this study showing that\nthese conditions can be reversed, there is no denying that AS are changing the\nframework of our bodies. Having this kind of knowledge should make people\nwonder how they are treating their body the next time they drink a Diet Coke or\nchew sugar-free gum. Are these changes really worth the lack of calories?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

*Bidu, C\u00e9lia, et al., American Diabetes Association, <\/em>vol. 67, no. 8, 2018<\/p>\n\n\n\n

**Suez, Jotham et al., Nature, <\/em>vol. 514, no. 186, 2014<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

R. Fenner\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Previous studies have indicated that artificial sweeteners (AS) alter intestinal microbiota and cause glucose intolerance, which is a condition that precedes type-2 diabetes. In a 2018 study*, obese, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":361,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[13,4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-359","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-artificial-sweeteners","category-post-1-spring-2019","entry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/digitalprojects.davidson.edu\/writingscience\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/359","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/digitalprojects.davidson.edu\/writingscience\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/digitalprojects.davidson.edu\/writingscience\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/digitalprojects.davidson.edu\/writingscience\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/digitalprojects.davidson.edu\/writingscience\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=359"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/digitalprojects.davidson.edu\/writingscience\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/359\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":362,"href":"https:\/\/digitalprojects.davidson.edu\/writingscience\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/359\/revisions\/362"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/digitalprojects.davidson.edu\/writingscience\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/361"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/digitalprojects.davidson.edu\/writingscience\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=359"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/digitalprojects.davidson.edu\/writingscience\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=359"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/digitalprojects.davidson.edu\/writingscience\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=359"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}