Written by Joyce Smith, BS. Study demonstrates that consumption of foods containing sucralose and maltrodextrin might exacerbate myeloperoxidase (MPO) intestinal reactivity only in individuals with a pro-inflammatory predisposition, such as Crohn’s Disease.
Splenda is an artificial sweetener used as a calorie-free sugar substitute (about 600 times sweeter than sugar) with no aftertaste. Sugar’s main ingredient is often sucrose, a disaccharide of glucose and fructose while Splenda (AS) is a non-caloric sweetener that uses a one percent concentration of non-sweetening “sucralose “instead of sucrose, and a 99 percent filler that is added to provide texture and volume 1. Maltodextrin is a nutritive polysaccharide and regarded as inert and GRAS (generally safe) by the US Food and Drug Administration 2; however studies have shown that both sucralose and maltodextrin are not biologically inert 3,4 and have shown varying potential for obesity and diabetes 5.
Researchers for the Case Western Reserve University in a 2018 study 6 found that over a six-week period, the artificial sweetener sucralose (Splenda) increased gut inflammation in mice with Crohn’s-like disease (SAMP mice), yet had no substantive effect on those without the disease. They conducted three separate experiments. In experiment One, they fed SAMP mice a “low dose” of Splenda (1.08 mg/mL) added to drinking water for 6 weeks and compared it to “plain water” using only SAMP mice. Experiment 2 repeated the above protocol but increased the dose to the maximum recommended by the FDA (3.5 mg/mL) and including AKR (ileitis-free )control mice. Experiment 3 repeated protocol 2 but administered Splenda at a dose 10 times higher (35 mg/mL) than the dose used in experiment 2.
The main outcomes were measures of MPO activity (MPO is a peroxidase enzyme produced by macrophages and neutrophils) and determination of intestinal inflammation. Body weight, microbiological cultures, and metagenomics shotgun DNA sequencing was used to characterize the microbiome of ileitis-prone SAMP mice. This was followed by microbiome sequencing and other testing to analyze myeloperoxidase (MPO) activity and compare the microbiome and ileitis phenotype in the SAMP mice with that of ileitis-free AKR/J control mice.
Splenda did not increase the severity of ileitis; however, ileal MPO activity was increased in SAMP mice treated with Splenda compared to the nonsupplemented mice (P<0.022) and healthy AKR control mice. However, Splenda did promote dysbiosis with increased Protobacteria in all mice, and E. coli overgrowth with increased bacterial infiltration into the intestinal epithelium (the ileal lamina propria) of the SAMP mice. Together, these findings further support the role of dysbiotic Proteobacteria expansion as a microbial signature of intestinal and epithelial dysfunction and suggest that consumption of Splenda may increase myeloperoxidase production only in individuals with a pro-inflammatory disposition, such as Crohn’s disease or other forms of inflammatory bowel disease. As part of this process, inflammation and its attendant consequences could exacerbate the symptoms of Crohn’s disease.
The researchers caution that while this study demonstrates how “Splenda induces changes in gut bacteria and gut wall immune cell reactivity, which could result in inflammation or disease flare ups in susceptible people”, the study also suggests that “individuals free of intestinal disease may not be overly concerned”.
Source: Rodriguez-Palacios, Alexander, Andrew Harding, Paola Menuhin, Catherine Immelmann, Mauricio Retort, Kourtney P. Nickerson, Minh Lam et al. “The artificial sweetener Splenda promotes gut proteobacteria, dysbiosis, and myeloperoxidase reactivity in Crohn’s disease–like ileitis.” Inflammatory bowel diseases 24, no. 5 (2018): 1005-1020.
© 2018 Crohn’s & Colitis Foundation. Published by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved.
Posted October 14, 2019.
Joyce Smith, BS, is a degreed laboratory technologist. She received her bachelor of arts with a major in Chemistry and a minor in Biology from the University of Saskatchewan and her internship through the University of Saskatchewan College of Medicine and the Royal University Hospital in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan. She currently resides in Bloomingdale, IL.
References:
- FDA. Artificial Sweeteners: No Calories … Sweet! 2006; https://permanent.access.gpo.gov/lps1609/www.fda.gov/fdac/features/2006/406_sweeteners.html. Accessed October 2, 2019.
- FDA. CFR – Code of Federal Regulations Title 21. 2018; https://www.accessdata.fda.gov/scripts/cdrh/cfdocs/cfcfr/cfrsearch.cfm?fr=184.1444. Accessed October 2, 2019.
- Thom G, Lean M. Is there an optimal diet for weight management and metabolic health? Gastroenterology. 2017;152(7):1739-1751.
- Nickerson KP, McDonald C. Crohn’s disease-associated adherent-invasive Escherichia coli adhesion is enhanced by exposure to the ubiquitous dietary polysaccharide maltodextrin. PloS one. 2012;7(12):e52132.
- Abou-Donia MB, El-Masry EM, Abdel-Rahman AA, McLendon RE, Schiffman SS. Splenda alters gut microflora and increases intestinal p-glycoprotein and cytochrome p-450 in male rats. Journal of Toxicology and Environmental Health, Part A. 2008;71(21):1415-1429.
- Rodriguez-Palacios A, Harding A, Menghini P, et al. The artificial sweetener splenda promotes gut proteobacteria, dysbiosis, and myeloperoxidase reactivity in Crohn’s disease–like ileitis. Inflammatory bowel diseases. 2018;24(5):1005-1020.
