What is it about?
Daily consumption of the artificial sweetener aspartame in drinking water produces anxiety and changes in gene expression in the brain. The anxiety is transmitted to up to two generations of descendants. The research was performed in a mouse model. The dose of aspartame was equivalent to only about 10-15% of the maximum daily intake value recommended by the FDA for humans.
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Why is it important?
Aspartame consumption at doses below the FDA recommended maximum daily intake may produce neurobehavioral changes such as anxiety in aspartame-consuming individuals and their descendants. Thus, human population at risk of aspartame’s potential mental health effects may be much larger, perhaps 2-3 fold larger than current expectations, which only include aspartame-consuming individuals. Furthermore, heritability of aspartame-induced anxiety suggests that aspartame produces changes in the germ cells of the aspartame-consuming males.
Perspectives
That aspartame-induced anxiety can be heritable suggests that aspartame produces changes in the germ cells of the aspartame-consuming males. Therefore, it is prudent to examine the effects of food additives on germ cells as part of food and drug safety protocols.
Pradeep Bhide
Florida State University
Read the Original
This page is a summary of: Transgenerational transmission of aspartame-induced anxiety and changes in glutamate-GABA signaling and gene expression in the amygdala, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, December 2022, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences,
DOI: 10.1073/pnas.2213120119.
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