Determination of artificial sweeteners in commercial beverages: do we know what we are consuming?

Abstract

[Abstract] Non-nutritive artificial sweeteners (NASs) are xenobiotics widely used in the food industry as sugar substitutes, since they provide few to no calories compared to sucrose. While NASs are considered safe at the acceptable daily intake (ADI) established by regulatory agencies, there is increasing controversy regarding their potential ability to promote metabolic derangements, especially to disrupt the gut microbiome balance. In this study, we analyzed a large cohort of the most commonly consumed beverages in Spain, categorizing them by the type of soda to determine the composition and content of the most frequently used NASs in the food industry. All commercial NAS formulations analyzed contained mixtures of different NASs. The NAS contents were always within regulated limits, although some samples yielded values close to these thresholds. Most soda samples analyzed contained NASs, even though the majority were not labeled as "zero sugars", "no sugar added", or "reduced calories", which may mislead consumers. A preliminary statistical evaluation of the obtained results (cluster analysis) suggests that beverages can be grouped into three distinct clusters based on the total amount of NAS present in the samples. Differences in the total NAS content were significant among the three groups, with one cluster showing two- and four-fold higher levels than the others.