Artificial Sweeteners and Immunity

High consumption of sugar leads to an increase in body weight and chronic diseases like obesity, heart problems and diabetes. Artificial sweeteners, with low calories, are used instead to avoid adverse effects of natural sugar. Artificial sweeteners are used worldwide as sugar substitutes in remarkable amounts in food, beverages, drugs and sanitary products. Different types of artificial sweeteners, which are commercially available as cyclamate, sucralose and saccharin, are well known. Studies have shown that more than half of the populations prefer artificially sweetened food-stuffs. Many studies verified the long-term toxicity of artificial sweeteners including carcinogenicity, irregular spermatogenesis, nephrotoxicity and damage to the DNA in cells of stomach, colon and urinary bladder.