Effect of natural and artificial sweeteners on the hemolymph glucose level (HGL) in Drosophila melanogaster

Paper Details

Research Paper 01/07/2015
Views (370) Download (28)
current_issue_feature_image
publication_file

Effect of natural and artificial sweeteners on the hemolymph glucose level (HGL) in Drosophila melanogaster

Paul Mark B. Medina, Jovynel S. Cabaccan, Joannes Luke B. Asis
Int. J. Biosci.7( 1), 119-131, July 2015.
Certificate: IJB 2015 [Generate Certificate]

Abstract

Natural sweeteners are used by consumers to enhance the flavor of food while artificial sweeteners were developed for the same purpose with the added benefit of minimizing the risk of hyperglycemia. Fasting HGL (hemolymph glucose level) of Drosophila melanogaster were measured and followed a normal curve distribution. Female flies fasted for 8 hours were fed with reagent-grade and consumer-grade sweeteners and their hemolymph was collected after 1 hour for glucose determination. There was no significant difference in HGL between fasted flies and the flies fed with artificial sweeteners (aspartame, acesulfame-K, saccharin, and sucralose). Flies fed with natural sweeteners increased their HGL in the following order: white sugar > light brown sugar > dark brown sugar > muscovado sugar > coconut sugar > stevia = fasting level. Except for stevia, all the tested natural sweeteners significantly increased HGL compared to fasting HGL (P < 0.05). Our study shows that among the natural sweeteners, coconut- and stevia-derived sweeteners, along with muscovado sugar, do not increase HGL as much as the white and brown varieties of cane sugars in D. melanogaster. This is the first report to test the effects of an extensive list of sweeteners on circulating glucose levels in a single experimental organism, unlike previous reports. Our findings reveal the suitability of natural sweeteners stevia, coconut sugar, and muscovado sugar as healthier substitutes for white sugar, and may be beneficial for individuals on low calorie diets or those with, or at risk of, hyperglycemia or diabetes mellitus.

VIEWS 64

American Academy of Pediatric Dentistry. 2014. Guideline on caries-risk assessment and management for infants, children, and adolescents. Clinical Guidelines, Reference Manual. American Academy of Pediatric Dentistry, 127-134, Chicago, IL, USA.

American Diabetes Association. 2011. Standard of Medical Care in Diabetes. Diabetes Care 34(suppl 1), S11-S61. http://dx.doi.org/10.2337/dc11-S011

Anton SD, Martin CK, Han H, Coulon S, Cefalu WT, Geiselman P, Williamson DA. 2010. Effects of  stevia,  aspartame,  and  sucrose  on  food  intake, satiety, and postprandial glucose and insulin levels. Appetite 55(1), 37-43. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.appet.2010.03.009

Araújo JR, Martel F, Keating E. 2014. Exposure to  non-nutritive  sweeteners  during  pregnancy  and lactation: Impact in programming of metabolic diseases in the  progeny  later in life. Reproductive Toxicology 49, 196-201. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.reprotox.2014.09.007

Baker KD, Thummel CS. 2007. Diabetic larvae and obese flies-emerging studies of metabolism in Drosophila. Cell Metabolism 6, 257–266. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.cmet.2007.09.002

Baroña ML. 2003. The promise of muscovado. Philippine Star. http://www.philstar.com/starweek-magazine/211154/promise-muscovado.

Barriocanal LA, Palacios M, Benitez G, Benitez S, Jimenez JT, Jimenez N, Rojas V. 2008. Apparent lack of pharmacological effect of steviol glycosides used as sweeteners in humans. A pilot study of repeated exposures in some normotensive and hypotensive individuals and in Type 1 and Type 2 diabetics. Regulatory Toxicology and Pharmacology 51(1), 37-41. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.yrtph.2008.02.006

Bettelheim F, Brown W, Campbell M, Farrell S. 2010. Nutrition, In: Introduction to organic and Biochemistry, p. 526. Brooks/Cole. CA. Bharucha KN, Tarr P, Zipursky SL. 2008. A glucagon-like endocrine pathway in Drosophila modulates both lipid and carbohydrate homeostasis. Journal of Experimental Biology 211(19), 3103-3110. http://dx.doi.org/10.1242/ jeb.016451

Bharucha KN. 2009. The epicurean fly: Using Drosophila melanogaster to study metabolism. Pediatric Research 65, 132–137. http://dx.doi.org/10.1203/PDR.0b013e318191fc68

Brandle JE, Starratt AN, Gijzen M. 1998. Stevia rebaudiana: Its agricultural, biological, and chemical properties. Canadian Journal of Plant Science 78, 527–536. http://dx.doi.org/10.4141/P97-114

Broughton SJ, Piper MD, Ikeya T, Bass TM, Jacobson J, Driege Y, Martinez P, Hafen E, Withers  DJ,  Leevers  SJ,  Partridge  L.  2005. Longer lifespan, altered metabolism, and stress resistance in Drosophila from ablation of cells making insulin-like ligands, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America 102(8), 3105-10. http://dx.doi.org/10.1073/pnas.0405775102

Broughton S, Alic N, Slack C, Bass T, Ikeya T, Vinti G, Tommasi AM, Driege Y, Hafen E, Partridge L. 2008. Reduction of DILP2 in Drosophila triages a metabolic phenotype from lifespan revealing redundancy and compensation among DILPs. PLOS ONE 3(11), e3721. http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0003721

Brunzell JD. 1978. Use of fructose, xylitol, or sorbitol as a sweetener in diabetes mellitus, Diabetes Care 1(4), 223-30. http://dx.doi.org/10.2337/diacare.1.4.223

Ceddia R, Bikopoulos G, Hilliker A, Sweeney G. 2003. Insulin stimulates glucose metabolism via the pentose phosphate pathway in Drosophila Kc cells. Federation of European Biochemical Societies Letters 555, 307-310.  http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/S0014-5793(03)01261-4

Chandramouli V, Kumaran K, Ekberg K, Wahren J, Landau BR. 1993. Quantitation of the pathways followed in the conversion of fructose to glucose in liver. Metabolism 42(11), 1420-3. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/0026-0495(93)90192-Q

Cole SW. 1939. Sugar, white and brown. British Medical Journal 2(4101), 340. http://dx.doi.org/10.1136/bmj.2.4101.340

Commerford SR, Bizeau ME, McRae H, Jampolis A, Thresher JS, Pagliassotti MJ. 2001. Hyperglycemia compensates for diet-induced insulin resistance in liver and skeletal muscle of rats. American Journal of Physiology – Regulatory, Integrative and Comparative Physiology 281(5), R1380-9.

DiNicolantonio JJ, Lucan SC. 2014. The wrong white crystals: not salt but sugar as aetiological in hypertension and cardiometabolic disease. Open Heart 1, e000167. http://dx.doi.org/10.1136/openhrt-2014-000167

Fitch C, Keim KS. 2012. Position of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics: Use of nutritive and nonnutritive sweeteners. Journal of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics 112(5), 739-758. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jand.2012.03.009

Flowers JM, Sezgin E, Kumagai S, Duvernell DD, Matzkin LM, Schmidt PS, Eanes WF. 2007. Adaptive evolution of metabolic pathways in Drosophila. Molecular Biology and Evolution 24(6), 1347-54. http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/molbev/msm057

Gregersena S, Jeppesena PB, Holstb JJ, Hermansena K. 2004. Antihyperglycemic effects of stevioside in type 2 diabetic subjects. Metabolism 53(1), 73-6. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.metabol.2003.07.013

Haselton A, Sharmin E, Schrader J, Sah M, Poon P, Fridell YWC. 2010. Partial ablation  of adult Drosophila insulin-producing neurons modulates glucose homeostasis and extends life span without insulin resistance. Cell Cycle 9(15), 3063-3071. http://dx.doi.org/10.4161/cc.9.15.12458.

Hayes C. 2001. The effect of non-cariogenic sweeteners on the prevention of dental caries: A review of the evidence. Journal of Dental Education 65(10), 1106-1109.

Hellfritsch C, Brockhoff A, Stähler F, Meyerhof W, Hofmann T. 2012. Human psychometric and taste receptor responses to steviol glycosides. Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry 60(27), 6782–6793. http://dx.doi.org/10.1021/jf301297n

Inglett GE. 1981. Sweeteners – A review. Food Technology. Mar-Apr 1981:37-38,40-41.

International Sugar Organization. 2012. Alternative sweeteners in a high sugar price environment. Alternative Sweeteners in a High Sugar Price Environment. MECAS (12)04. London, United Kingdom.

Jaffé WR. 2012. Health effects of non-centrifugal sugar (NCS): A review. Sugar Tech 14, 87-94. http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s12355-012-0145-1

Knight GR. 2009. A house of honey: White sugar, brown sugar, and the taste for modernity in colonial and postcolonial Indonesia. Food and Foodways 17(4), 197-214. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/07409710903356281

Lee BM. 1997. Effects of glucose, fructose, and sucrose on postprandial glucose and insulin responses. MS thesis, University of Toronto, Canada, p. 32-66.

Luque T, Hjelmqvist L, Marfany G, Danielsson O, El-Ahmad M, Persson B, Jörnvall H, González-Duarte R. 1998. Sorbitol dehydrogenase of Drosophila: Gene, protein, and expression data show a two-gene system. Journal of Biological Chemistry 273(51), 34293-301. http://dx.doi.org/10.1074/jbc.273.51.34293

Malik VS, Popkin BM, Bray GA, Després JP, Willett WC, Hu FB. 2010. Sugar-sweetened beverages and risk of metabolic syndrome and type 2 diabetes. Diabetes Care 33(11), 2477-2483. http://dx.doi.org/10.2337/dc10-1079

Manohar EC. 2012. Coconut sap sugar industry roadmap. 1st National Coconut Sap Sugar Congress. Philippines. (Lecture).

Marzluf GA. 1969. Studies of trehalase and sucrase of Drosophila melanogaster. Archives of Biochemistry and Biophysics 134(1), 8-18. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/0003-9861(69)90244-6

Miller PE, Perez V. 2014. Low-calorie sweeteners and body weight and composition: A meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials and prospective cohort studies. American Journal of Clinical Nutrition 100, 765–77. http://dx.doi.org/10.3945/ajcn.113.082826

Morenga LAT, Mallard S. 2012. Dietary sugars and body weight: systematic review and meta-analyses of randomised controlled trials and cohort studies. British Medical Journal 345, e7492. http://dx.doi.org/10.1136/bmj.e7492

Morenga LAT, Howatson AJ, Jones RM, Mann J. 2014.  Dietary  sugars  and  cardiometabolic  risk:systematic review and meta-analyses of randomized controlled trials of the effects on blood pressure and lipids. American Journal of Clinical Nutrition 100(1), 65-79. http://dx.doi.org/10.3945/ajcn.113.081521

Musselman LP, Fink J, Narzinski K, Ramachandran PV, Hathiramani SS, Cagan R, Baranski      T. 2011. A high-sugar diet produces obesity and insulin resistance in wild-type Drosophila. Disease Models and Mechanisms 4, 842-849. http://dx.doi.org/10.1242/dmm.007948

Na J, Musselman LP, Pendse J, Baranski T, Bodmer R, Ocorr K, Cagan R. 2013. A Drosophila model  of  high  sugar  diet-induced  cardiomyopathy. PLOS Genetics 9(1), e1003175. http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pgen.1003175

Natah SS, Hussien KR, Tuominen JA, Koivisto VA. 1997. Metabolic response to lactitol and xylitol in healthy men. American Journal of Clinical Nutrition 65(4), 947-950.

NPCS Board. 2012. In: Handbook on Agro Based Industries. 2nd ed. Niir Project Consultancy Services, New Delhi, India, p. 139.

Olmsted WH. 1953. The metabolism of mannitol and sorbitol; their use as sugar substitutes in diabetic therapy. Diabetes 2(2), 132-7. http://dx.doi.org/10.2337/diab.2.2.132

Purnomo H. 1992. Sugar components of coconut sugar in Indonesia. ASEAN Food Journal 7(4), 200-201.

Purnomo H. 2007. Volatile components of coconut fresh sap, sap syrup and coconut sugar. ASEAN Food Journal 14(1), 45-49.

Ranilla LG, Kwon YI, Genovese MI, Lajolo FM, Shetty K. 2008. Antidiabetes and antihypertension potential of commonly consumed carbohydrate sweeteners using in vitro models. Journal of Medicinal Food 11(2), 337–348. http://dx.doi.org/10.1089/jmf.2007.689

Rizzo B, Zambonin L, Angeloni C, Leoncini E, Dalla Sega FV, Prata C, Fiorentini D, Hrelia S. 2013. Steviol glycosides modulate glucose transport in different cell types. Oxidative Medicine and Cellular Longevity 2013, 348169. http://dx.doi.org/10.1155/2013/348169

Rovenko BM, Perkhulyn NV, Gospodaryov DV, Sanz A, Lushchak OV, Luschchak VI. 2015. High consumption of fructose rather than glucose promotes a diet-induced obese phenotype in Drosophila melanogaster. Comparative Biochemistry and Physiology Part A 180, 75–85. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.cbpa.2014.11.008

Schernhammer ES, Bertrand KA, Birmann BM, Sampson L, Willett WC, Feskanich D. 2012. Consumption of artificial sweetener- and sugar-containing soda and risk of lymphoma and leukemia in men and women. American Journal of Clinical Nutrition 96(6), 1419–1428. http://dx.doi.org/10.3945/ajcn.111.030833

Schiffman SS, Rother KI. 2013. Sucralose, a synthetic organochlorine sweetener: Overview of biological issues. Journal of Toxicology and Environmental Health Part B 16, 399–451. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/10937404.2013.842523

Swithers SE. 2013. Artificial sweeteners produce the counterintuitive effect of inducing metabolic derangements. Trends in Endocrinology and Metabolism 24(9), 431–441. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.tem.2013.05.005

Trinidad TP, Malillin AC, Sagum RS, Encabo RR. 2010. Glycemic index of commonly consumed carbohydrate foods in the Philippines. Journal of Functional Foods. 2(4), 271-274. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jff.2010.10.002

Wolever TM. 1998. Effect of glucose, sucrose and fructose on plasma glucose and insulin responses in normal humans:comparison with white bread. European Journal of Clinical Nutrition 52(12), 924-8. http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/sj.ejcn.1600666

Xie HB, Cammarato A, Rajasekaran NS, Zhang H, Suggs JA, Lin HC, Bernstein SI, Benjamin IJ, Golic KG. 2013. The NADPH metabolic network regulates human αB-crystallin cardiomyopathy and reductive stress in Drosophila melanogaster. PLOS Genetics 9(6), e1003544. http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pgen.1003544

Yılmaz S, Uçar A. 2014. Epidemiological studies reveal mild association of long-term consumption with certain cancers. A review of the genotoxic and carcinogenic effects of aspartame: does it safe or not? Cytotechnology 66(6), 875-881.

Zhang H, Liu J, Li CR, Momen B, Kohanski RA, Pick L. 2009. Deletion of Drosophila insulin-like  peptide  causes  growth  defects  and  metabolic abnormalities. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America 106(46), 19617-19622. http://dx.doi.org/10.1073/pnas.0905083106

Zumbe  A,  Lee  A,  Storey  D.  2001.  Polyols  in confectionery: the route to sugar-free, reduced sugar and reduced calorie confectionery. British Journal of Nutrition 85, S31–S45. http://dx.doi.org/10.1079/BJN2000260