Prevention – New research links artificial sweetener use to a faster rate of cognitive decline.
Scientists found that the more artificial sweetener people use, the faster the rate of decline.
New research published in the journal Neurology linked higher levels of artificial sweetener use with a faster rate of decline in thinking and memory skills. For the study, researchers followed 12,772 adults with an average age of 52 for about eight years.
The study participants answered questionaries about their diet at the start of the study, sharing what they ate and drank over the previous year.
Using that information, the researchers divided participants into three groups based on their artificial sweetener use.
Those in the lowest group had an average of 20 milligrams of artificial sweetener a day, while those in the highest group had 191 milligrams of artificial sweeteners daily. (That higher level is about what you’d find in a can of diet soda.)
The participants were also given cognitive tests at the beginning, middle, and end of the study to look at potential changes in their memory, language, and thinking skills over time.
The researchers discovered that people who regularly had higher amounts of artificial sweeteners had a 62% faster decline in thinking and memory skills compared to those who had the lowest amount of artificial sweeteners. That’s equivalent to about 1.6 years of aging, the researchers noted.
The researchers also discovered that people with diabetes had a faster rate of decline in memory and cognition than people without the condition.
The researchers wrote in the conclusion that the findings “suggest the possibility of long-term harm” on cognitive function from using artificial sweeteners and sugar alcohols.
Which artificial sweeteners were linked to cognitive decline?
The study looked at seven different artificial sweeteners, but the researchers determined that six of them were linked to cognitive decline:
- aspartame
- saccharin
- acesulfame-k
- erythritol
- sorbitol
- xylitol
