Artificial sweeteners are associated with learning and memory deficits that can be passed on to the next generation, scientists in Bhide Lab at the FSU College of Medicine have discovered.
These effects were seen after consuming as little as 10% of the Food and Drug Administration's daily recommendations.
Aspartame is an artificial sweetener that is used in a variety of products and has been approved by the FDA for use in food and drinks. However, studies have found that aspartame is linked to a range of health problems, including Type 2 diabetes, obesity, mood and behavioral disorders, hormonal disruption and damage to DNA. In July, the World Health Organization said the sweetener can "possibly" cause cancer.
In a recent study published in the journal Nature Scientific Reports, Professor Pradeep Bhide, the Jim and Betty Ann Rogers Eminent Scholar chair of Developmental Neuroscience in the Department of Biomedical Sciences, and colleagues discovered that even low doses of aspartame over a sustained period can result in spatial learning and memory deficits, at least in mice. And those deficits can be passed on from fathers to their children.
Read the full story about this research in Newsweek.