High intake of low-calorie sweeteners tied to faster brain decline

A large Brazilian study published on Monday in the journal Neurology found that adults who consumed the highest amounts of common low and no calorie sweeteners experienced significantly faster cognitive decline over an eight year period than those with the lowest intake. Researchers tracked 12,772 adults with an average age of 52 and report that people in the highest consumption group showed about a 62 percent faster decline in global cognition, roughly equivalent to 1.6 years of additional brain ageing.

The study divided participants into three groups by daily intake of selected sweeteners and tested memory, language and processing speed at the start, midpoint and end of the follow up. The lowest intake group averaged about 20 milligrams per day of the examined sweeteners, while the highest averaged roughly 191 milligrams per day—an amount the authors say is roughly equivalent to the aspartame in one can of diet soda. The sweeteners analyzed included aspartame, saccharin, acesulfame K, erythritol, xylitol and sorbitol; tagatose was tested but showed no association with cognitive decline.

Researchers reported stronger associations in participants under 60 and in people with...