THE EPOCH TIMES – Some familiar foods may be working against your brain. Nutrition and brain-health experts explain why and offer smarter alternatives.
Regular intake of artificial sweeteners may affect how the brain ages. In an eight-year study of more than 12,000 adults, published in Neurology, researchers examined whether low- and no-calorie sweeteners—including aspartame, saccharin, erythritol, and xylitol—were linked to changes in thinking and memory.
They found that people under 60 who ate the most artificial sweeteners had slightly faster declines in memory and verbal fluency compared to those who ate the least.
This decline was roughly equivalent to about 1.6 extra years of normal aging among the highest consumers. The association was strongest in people with diabetes.
“Artificial sweeteners create a different mismatch that the brain has to sort out,” Ryan said. The taste of something sweet is meant to signal to the brain to expect calories, she noted. When the tongue keeps telling the brain “sweet” but no calories arrive, the reward system must adapt.
Research suggests that some nonnutritive sweeteners can alter dopamine signaling in reward pathways, which may change appetite, cravings, and even preferences for intensely sweet foods.
In addition, “artificial sweeteners can alter gut bacteria and interfere with serotonin production, the neurotransmitter most closely linked to mood and well-being,” Amen said.
He noted that about 90 percent of the body’s serotonin is produced in the gut, meaning disruptions to the gut microbiome can increase anxiety and depressive symptoms.
Research shows that if the gut microbiome is disrupted, it can allow toxins to build up, and cognitive function may decline, increasing the risk of neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s …
