Study links cognitive decline to surprisingly small daily amount of artificial sweeteners

Adults who ingest daily the amount of artificial sweetener typically found in a can of diet soda exhibited cognitive decline at a rate 62 percent faster than people whose intake is only a fraction of that amount, according to a new eight-year study published in the medical journal Neurology. Researchers in Brazil followed more than 12,700 adults with an average age of 52 and examined their use of seven common low- and no-calorie sweeteners—aspartame, saccharin, acesulfame K, erythritol, xylitol, sorbitol, and tagatose—found in diet drinks, flavored waters, yogurt, and ultra-processed foods such as breakfast cereals and packaged snacks. Participants who consumed the most sweeteners averaged 191 milligrams a day, compared with 20 milligrams among those who consumed the least. The research team said the faster rate of cognitive decline among the higher-intake group was equivalent to roughly 1.6 years of additional brain aging. Six of the seven sugar substitutes studied were associated with faster cognitive decline, particularly memory loss. Tagatose was the lone exception. “Low- and no-calorie sweeteners are often seen as a healthy alternative to sugar,” said the study’s author, Clau…