People frequently resort to artificial sweeteners because they are widely advertised as an ingredient that can be added to foods and beverages without having to worry about the negative effects of sugar on your health. But sugary drinks are making us more anxious, according to a recent study that examined the effects of the artificial sweetener aspartame on mice. The Florida State University College of Medicine’s research team has discovered a connection between aspartame and anxiety.
Low-calorie meals and drinks typically contain aspartame. Aspartame was approved by the FDA in 1981, and as of right now, it may be found in about 5,000 different products that are used and consumed by both adults and children. The FDA recommends a daily aspartame intake of no more than 50 milligrams per kilogram of body weight.
Anxiety was caused in mice by taking only 15% of the FDA’s maximum recommended dose yet mice exhibited increased anxious behavior in specifically devised mood assessments. Not just the aspartame-consuming mice exhibited anxiety-like behavior but the effects were also seen in two generations of males exposed to the artificial sweetener. This research was published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
According to co-author Pradeep Bhide, the Jim and Betty Ann Rodgers Eminent Scholar Chair of Developmental Neuroscience in the Department of Biomedical Sciences, “the study shows that we need to look back at the environmental factors because what we see today is not only what happened today but what happened two generations ago, and possibly even longer.”
Several generations of mice were used to do a variety of maze tests to measure the levels of anxiety. In order to determine how the genes inside the tissue were being expressed, the researchers also carried out RNA sequencing on important regions of the subject’s neurological systems. The researchers discovered significant changes in the amygdala, a part of the brain involved with anxiety management.
Diazepam, a medication formerly sold under the brand name Valium and frequently prescribed to treat anxiety in people, was administered to the mice, and anxiety-like behaviors disappeared in all generations. The drug aids in regulating the same brain circuits that aspartame’s effects on the body change.
The results’ extrapolation to humans shows that aspartame use at dosages below the FDA’s maximum daily intake recommendation may result in neurobehavioral abnormalities. As a result, the human population is at risk from aspartame’s possible impacts on mental health. And it may be bigger than what is currently anticipated, which solely takes into account aspartame consumers.