Artificial sweeteners might cause diabetes, study finds

According to a recent study, using artificial sweeteners instead of sugar might not be effective. In addition, they might even disrupt the body's ability to regulate blood sugar levels.

Researchers at the Weizmann Institute of Science in Israel conducted an elaborate study revealing that regular use of artificial sweeteners may alter the bacterial flora in the intestines, which may lead to disruption of the way the body metabolizes sugar.

These metabolic changes might be a precursor to diabetes. The researchers say that people use sweeteners to avoid this condition, The New York Times reported.

After conducting several tests on mostly mice, the researchers discovered that the introduction of artificial sweeteners altered the bacterial population in the digestive tract, also known as microbiome, which later altered the metabolism of glucose.

In one of the experiments, three different types of sweeteners (saccharin, sucralose and aspartame) were given to a group of mice, while the control group was given water and regular table sugar.

A week later, the scientists observed that as the control group had little change in their glucose metabolism, the group that was given artificial sweeteners developed an intolerance to glucose. The intolerance to glucose has great potential to induce Type 2 diabetes and metabolic syndrome.

An immunologist at the Weizmann Institute of Science, and also one of the authors of the study, Dr. Eran Elinav shared his own experience. I've consumed very large amounts of coffee, and extensively used sweeteners, thinking like many other people that they are at least not harmful to me and perhaps even beneficial." He said after the results of the study they conducted he stopped using them, the Times reported.

The science community has been increasingly paying more attention to the microbiome of the human body. Recent discoveries have been attributing many diseases like diabetes and autoimmune diseases to an altered microbiome.

Hippocrates, an ancient Greek physician who is considered to be the "father of the western medicine," supposedly said "all disease begins in the gut".

In light of the new research, maybe he was correct, even though he lived 2,000 years ago.