A study of almost 13,000 people has found a link between artificial sweeteners and waning cognition, with the connection "even stronger” among diabetes patients whose illness means eating sugar is out of the question.
"People who consumed the highest amount of sweeteners showed faster declines in overall thinking and memory skills than those who consumed the lowest amount, with a decline that was 62% faster,” the researchers found.
This is equivalent to about 1.6 years of ageing.
The team looked into the effects of seven widely-used sugar replacements, among them aspartame, saccharin and xylitol.
ALSO READ: Watch out for your heart when you take xylitol
As well as being used as sweeteners in tea and coffee, they often feature as ingredients in soft drinks, energy drinks, yoghurt and low-calorie desserts.
ALSO READ: You wouldn't expect to find sugar in these foods
Participants were tracked for eight years, taking cognition tests at the outset of, midway through, and at the end of the study period.
The declines recorded were found to be sharper among those who were under 60 at the start of the study and those who were taking the highest intake of sweeteners, with the researchers finding excess amounts to be "associated with a faster decline in verbal fluency”.
"Low- and no-calorie sweeteners are often seen as a healthy alternative to sugar, however, our findings suggest certain sweeteners may have negative effects on brain health over time,” says study co-author and Brazil's University of São Paulo associate professor of geriatrics Dr Claudia Kimie Suemot.
"The link to faster cognitive decline was stronger in participants with diabetes than in those without diabetes,” the researchers add, in findings that could prove a bitter pill to swallow for diabetics with a sweet tooth.
The researchers point out that while their data suggest a link between sweeteners and memory loss, they did not point to anything like irrefutable evidence.
"While the study showed a link between the use of some artificial sweeteners and cognitive decline, it did not prove that they were a cause,” according to the American Academy of Neurology, which published the findings in its journal Neurology. – dpa
