Artificial sweeteners promote dissemination of antibiotic resistance

Contributed by Dr. Ashok Tamhankar & Dr. Nishtha Khatri 

Laboratory studies on four commonly used artificial sweeteners (saccharin, sucralose, aspartame, and acesulfame potassium), indicate that they can exist in human body in concentrations of up to hundreds of mg/L. This occurs these sweeteners  are not generally metabolized and are also found in sub-surface water and the effluent of wastewater treatment plants where they can promote Antimicrobial Gene Transfer by conjugation at environmentally and clinically relevant concentrations to other microbes. More research is necessary to determine how much this can occur in the human gut and urinary systems. Sweeteners have recently been found to be associated with shifts in the gut microbiota similar to those caused by antibiotics. When we think about antimicrobial resistance, we must keep in mind the potential risk posed by artificial sweeteners.