Maintaining the normal gut microbiome and metabolome is vital for health of the human body since the gut microbiota have a broad impact on their host, and the host in turn provides habitat and nutrients and also secrets antibodies to control the microbes to keep a balanced states. This homeostasis, however, could be disrupted by various external factors including chemicals from the diet, and the breakdown of this homeostasis results in many adverse health results, such as inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), cardiovascular disease, obesity, diabetes and cancer. Hence, exposure to chemicals that alter the gut microbiota and its functions can pose adverse effects on human health. Artificial sweeteners are most heavily used sugar substitutes found in a variety of food and beverage, while their impact and function on human health is controversial. In addition, functional interactions between artificial sweeteners and the gut microbiome are not well understood. The aim of this study is to determine whether the consumption of artificial sweeteners disturb the gut microbiome and metabolism. In this study, CD1 mice were treated with three artificial sweeteners, acesulfame potassium (ace-K), aspartame, and neotame for four weeks via daily gavage. Then the difference of gut microbiota between control and artificial sweetener-treated mice was determined using 16S rRNA gene sequencing, and fecal metabolome shifts resulting from artificial sweeteners were characterized by GC-MS. Significant difference was observed in microbiome patterns between 0-day (baseline) and 4-week time points, indicating that the gut microbiome is a dynamic system. Gut microbiome difference was also observed between male and female, highlighting the role of sex in shaping gut microbiome. Moreover, the microbiome changes were found to be compound-specific, as demonstrated by the remarkably different patterns of gut bacteria perturbations arising from artificial sweeteners. Likewise, fecal metabolic profiling results show that artificial sweetener-induced changes of metabolome are also sex- and compound-dependent.

Gut microbiome and metabolome response to artificial sweeteners

252nd National Meeting (2016)

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