Nutritional and Biochemical Studies on Some Artificial Sweeteners Administered to Male Albino Rats

摘要

Artificial sweeteners are man-made chemical by-products used by food industries worldwide. The present work dealt with the study of the possible changes in body weight, blood picture, liver and kidney functions, blood glucose, serum lipid content, insulin, growth hormone and alpha-fetoprotein tumor marker as well as histopathologi-cal changes induced in liver, kidney and testes of male albino rats after the administration of three different artificial sweeteners (saccharin, aspartame and cyclamate) for 6 and 12 weeks. Nonsignificant changes in body weight were recorded for rat groups fed diets supplemented with saccharin for 6 weeks while, rats fed diets supplemented with aspartame and cyclamate for 6 weeks showed significant decreases in their body weights. Furthermore, after 12 weeks, all three sweeteners provoked a significant weight reduction. Rats given aspartame for 6 weeks showed nonsignificant changes in their hemoglobin content and RBCs counts, while, after 12 weeks, the RBCs count began to drops significantly. Cyclamate and saccharin treated rats showed significant additional lowering of the RBCs. All three sweeteners caused a significant increase in ALT activity after both 6 and 12 weeks of administration. AST was significantly increased with saccharin and aspartame after 12 weeks ingestion, while cyclamate did not alter GPT at any time. ALP levels in serum were not affected by saccharin administration, while aspartame and cyclamate caused a significant rise in ALP after 12 weeks. Serum creatinine levels were not affected throughout the study except in those rats fed with saccharin after a period of 12 weeks revealing a significant rise in their creatinine. Rats administered aspartame and cyclamate in their diets showed a significant reduction in serum triglycerides, total cholesterol, LDL-and VLDL-cholesterol fractions after both 6 and 12 weeks of sweetener administration. Saccharin administration for 6 weeks caused a significant reduction in triglycerides and VLDL-cholesterol, while after 12 weeks it significantly reduced total cholesterol and LDL-cholesterol fraction. The three sweeteners did not affect HDL-cholesterol in the serum of rats except for cyclamate after 12 weeks which caused a significant reduction. Blood glucose levels of rats given saccharin significantly dropped after 12 weeks. On the other hand, both aspartame and cyclamate caused a significant elevation in blood glucose after both 6 and 12 weeks of supplementation. Insignificant changes were recorded in serum insulin with all three sweeteners. Growth hormone failed to exhibit any significant change in rats given saccharin. Aspartame, on the other hand, caused a significant rise of growth hormone after both 6 and 12 weeks, while, cyclamate administration increased growth hormone levels only after 12 weeks. Alphafetoprotein (AFP) showed a significant elevation after 6 and 12 weeks of both saccharin and cyclamate administration, while aspartame had no effect on AFP in serum. Microscopic examination of liver sections showed lymphocytic infiltration of the portal tracts with slight congestion and mild cloudy swelling of the hepatocytes in those rats that were administered saccharin and aspartame.