- A new study indicates that high doses of the artificial sweetener sucralose reduce immune responses in mice.
- Specifically, it lowers the activation of their T cells.
- Researchers stress that typical consumption of sucralose by humans is not likely to be harmful.
- In the future, researchers hope to examine whether high doses of this common sweetener could be used to dampen hyperactive immune systems.
Known by the brand name Splenda, sucralose is one of several artificial sweeteners
The U.S. Food & Drug Administration approved sucralose for use as a general-purpose sweetener for foods in 1999.
Dr. Karen Vousden, a cancer biologist at the Francis Crick Institute, a biomedical research center in London, told Medical News Today that the members of her team were interested in the impact of diet on disease, so they decided to research sucralose.
“Across the globe, the consumption of sweeteners is increasing rapidly and careful studies by many regulatory agencies have shown them to be safe at the levels of [typical] consumption,” she said.
“[I]n recent years there have been reports that sweeteners may have more effects than previously thought, such as an effect on the gut microbiome. So, we carried out a study to look at the effects of some of these sweeteners in mice.”
— Dr. Karen Vousden
A paper on their work was recently published in
The FDA established an acceptable daily intake (ADI) for sucralose of
A packet of Splenda has 12 mg of sucralose. A 150-pound person can ingest 340 mg of sucralose a day and still meet the ADI in the United States.
For the tests undertaken for…
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