More people are turning to artificial sweeteners in place of sugar in an attempt to reduce their sugar intake to manage their weight and conditions such as Type 2 diabetes. However, sugar alternatives can come with their own downsides, and some may cause more problems than they solve.
What Is Neotame?
Neotame (brand name Newtame) is an artificial sweetener produced by NutraSweet Co. It is about 8,000 times sweeter than table sugar and 40 times sweeter than aspartame, another artificial sweetener made by the same manufacturer. It was developed in the 1990s as a derivative of aspartame and was expected to be the sweetener’s successor. It received approval for use in food by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration in 2002 and by the European Union in 2010.Researchers from Anglia Ruskin University in the UK are the first to demonstrate that neotame can cause healthy bacteria in the gut to become diseased and damage the thin lining of the intestine to the point that it causes the death of tissue cells.
When the intestinal lining breaks down, the gut wall becomes more susceptible to harmful bacteria, such as E. coli and E. faecalis.
“There is now growing awareness of the health impacts of sweeteners such as saccharin, sucralose and aspartame, with our own previous work demonstrating the problems they can cause to the wall of the intestine and the damage to the ‘good bacteria’ which form in our gut,” senior author Havovi Chichger, associate professor in biomedical science at Anglia Ruskin University, said in a statement.
Neotame Joins List of Artificial Sweeteners With Questionable Health Benefits
While some studies have touted the potential benefits of artificial sweeteners for promoting weight loss and helping people with glucose intolerance and Type 2 diabetes manage their conditions, others have linked artificial sweeteners with some adverse health effects.
In July 2023, the International Agency for Research on Cancer classified aspartame as possibly carcinogenic to humans.
“The assessments of aspartame have indicated that, while safety is not a major concern at the doses which are commonly used, potential effects have been described that need to be investigated by more and better studies,” Dr. Francesco Branca, director of the Department of Nutrition and Food Safety at the World Health Organization, said in a statement.
The Anglia Ruskin University team noted that other artificial sweeteners have the potential to wreak havoc on the gut. Ms. Chichger’s previous research suggests that acesulfame potassium, aspartame, sucralose, and saccharine have similar effects on the microbiota as neotame.
“This may lead to a range of potential health issues including diarrhoea, intestinal inflammation, and even infections such as septicaemia if the bacteria were to enter the blood stream,” she said. “Understanding the impact of these pathogenic changes occurring in the gut microbiota is vital. Our findings also demonstrate the need to better understand common food additives more widely and the molecular mechanisms underlying potential negative health impacts.”
