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Artificial Sweeteners Are Toxic To Digestive Gut Bacteria, Study Finds (cnbc.com)
According to a study published in the journal Molecules, researchers found that six common artificial sweeteners approved by the FDA and 10 sport supplements that contained them were found to be toxic to the digestive gut microbes of mice. CNBC reports: Researchers from Ben-Gurion University of the Negev in Israel and Nanyang Technological University in Singapore tested the toxicity of aspartame, sucralose, saccharine, neotame, advantame, and acesulfame potassium-k. They observed that when exposed to only 1 milligram per milliliter of the artificial sweeteners, the bacteria found in the digestive system became toxic. According to the study, the gut microbial system "plays a key role in human metabolism," and artificial sweeteners can "affect host health, such as inducing glucose intolerance." Additionally, some of the effects of the new FDA-approved sweeteners, such as neotame, are still unknown.
However, the study found that mice treated with the artificial sweetener neotame had different metabolic patterns than those not treated, and several important genes found in the human gut had decreased. Additionally, concentrations of several fatty acids, lipids and cholesterol were higher in mice treated with neotame than in those not. Because of the widespread use of artificial sweeteners in drinks and foods, many people consume them without knowing it.
However, the study found that mice treated with the artificial sweetener neotame had different metabolic patterns than those not treated, and several important genes found in the human gut had decreased. Additionally, concentrations of several fatty acids, lipids and cholesterol were higher in mice treated with neotame than in those not. Because of the widespread use of artificial sweeteners in drinks and foods, many people consume them without knowing it.
I skimmed through that study. It found that neotame disrupted the balance of the microbiome, metabolism of certain vitamins and other nutrients, and the metabolic pathways. However, body weight of the experimental and control groups were the same after 4 weeks, which was buried in the end although it'd been predicted that body weight should've dropped. I'm unsure if the disruption is enough to potentially lead to malnutrition, although metabolic syndrome and various gut disorders are specifically mentioned in the paper as possible effects.
Also, apparently it's considered humane to euthanize mice with CO2? I'd think that'd cause painful asphyxiation.
Corruption is convincing someone that the selfless ideal is the same as their selfish ideal.
The study was published in a MDPI journal. MDPI has some serious reputational problems (more here).
The concentrations given were around a thousand of times a normal neotame dose (equivalent to dozens of milligrams for an adult human, where normal daily neotame intake is in the dozens of micrograms) (or over a hundred times a normal dose if you accept their 12,5x human:mouse exchange factor, although that seems misguided since they're testing effects on bacteria, not direct effects on the animal). One thing that's notably absent IMHO is the glaring omission of discussion of the mice's food consumption. It's not even clear whether the pelleted diet is ad libitum or whether just the water is ("standard pelleted rodent diet and tap water ad libitum"). If the pelleted diet is ad libitum then it seems utter incompetence to not discuss changes in dietary consumption when doing a gut flora study.
"Close the door! What, were you born in a barn?" -- Police chief, "Jesus Christ Supercop"
Mice aren't humans and people actually tries to minimize suffering of the animals so this have been studied.
a) very few savanna living prehistoric people, as we evolved to be, encountered actual coal;
b) even your coal eating county dweller tends to encounter either raw coal or the combustion products of coal - specially made chemicals from coal a bit less so
Widespread encounters with coal really didn't happen until the start of the industrial era - and yes that does mean we are starting to evolve, but the way that happens is by some people dying which isn't always great.
If only humans could change and adapt to living conditions/diets outside of the savanna.
eg. Pale skin, lactose tolerance ... to name a couple of the most glaringly obvious examples.
No sig today...
Actually, yes, death by carbon monoxide poisoning would be preferrable to carbon dioxide.
In the former case, you get drowsy, fall asleep, and eventually asphyxiate. CO binds to hemoglobin, preventing your blood from taking up oxygen. You die of hypoxia, which is generally thought of being pretty painless. (If hypoxia were painful, then high-altitude mountaineering would be impossible, rather than just merely hard.) A similar death would occur in a depressurized airline cabin if you don't put your mask on. CO poisoning happens to a 100s of people each year in the U.S. due to faulty heating systems. One reason deaths result is because people aren't aware that it's even happening - they just fall asleep, then die. This is why your home should have at least one CO detector per floor.
Carbon dioxide poisoning, on the other hand, is definitely a rough way to go. Hold your breath for a while and you'll see what I mean. That panic you're feeling, the tightening of the chest, the burning, that's caused by your brainstem realizing your blood has built up too much CO2. At low levels, high CO2 concentration in the air will make your irritable, give you a headache, and generally make it hard to function at your best. (Astronaut Scott Kelly complained about this a lot during his year on the ISS.) Taken higher, and your entire body becomes acidotic, and that feeling of drowning becomes all-encompassing. Eventually, your metabolism will break down at a cellular level as your blood becomes saturated with CO2. You'll have passed out long before that, but your last conscious moments will probably be in agony.
Neotame is 7000-13000 times as sweet as sugar.
"Close the door! What, were you born in a barn?" -- Police chief, "Jesus Christ Supercop"