(MENAFN) Scientists at the Francis Crick Institute in London have found that consuming a high amount of sucralose, an artificial sweetener commonly used in hot drinks and diet soft drinks, could suppress the immune response to disease in mice.
The study suggests that sucralose could potentially be used to treat people with autoimmune disorders, including conditions such as Type-1 diabetes.
The study, published in Nature, found that consuming high doses of sucralose lowered the activation of T cells — a type of white blood cell — in mice.
Dr Karen Vousden, senior author and principal group leader at the Crick, told The National: “T-cells are activated when an external signal binds to the T-cell receptor on the surface of the T-cell. Our data show that sucralose works by dampening this signalling cascade, so the T-cell is less efficiently activated.
“We don’t know the exact details, but it seems that sucralose can interact with the cell membrane and impedes changes in the membrane that are necessary for proper T-cell receptor activation”.
The doses tested were within recommended consumption limits, but would be the equivalent of drinking about 30 cups of sweetened coffee in a day or 10 cans of a diet fizzy drink.
Dr Vousden said: “We did not see a similar effect with two other sweeteners, AceK and saccharin”.
The researchers hope the findings could lead to a new way of using much higher therapeutic doses of sucralose in patients, but they stressed that their findings should not sound alarm bells for those wanting to ensure they have a healthy immune system or recover from disease.
Sucralose has been widely used as an artificial sweetener for more than 20 years, and its safety has been repeatedly confirmed by regulatory authorities worldwide.
According to the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA), sucralose is safe for human consumption and does not pose any known risks to human health.
However, the new study highlights that there may be more to the effects of sucralose than previously thought.
The researchers noted that while the study was conducted on mice, it is possible that the same mechanism could occur in humans, and they called for further research to confirm their findings.
They said: “Our findings show that artificial sweeteners may have effects on the immune system beyond their taste receptor function, underscoring the importance of assessing their impact on immunity and other physiological functions in vivo”.
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