Effect of sugar, aspartame, or acesulfame potassium alone or in beverages on C. elegans model organism

Abstract

Sugar‐sweetened beverages have been associated with weight gain. Increasingly use non‐caloric sweeteners have also been suggested to cause obesity. We tested whether sugar‐sweetened or non‐caloric sweeteners sweetened beverages increased intestinal fat deposition in wild type Caenorhabditis elegans (C. elegans). Control animals received standard lab food (E. coli, OP50). In study I, animals received OP50 plus sugar‐ or sweetener‐sweetened beverages. In study II, animals were treated with OP50 plus sugar, aspartame, or acesulfame potassium, the sweeteners used in beverages. After 18 days, animals were fixed and stained with lipophilic dye Nile red. Micrographs were captured using a florescence microscope, digital camera, and the fluorescent intensity of intestinal fat deposition was analyzed. Treatment with a sugar‐sweetened beverage did not change Nile red florescence intensity, but reduced pharyngeal pumping rate which was also reduced by a sweetener‐sweetened beverage, a surrogate marker of aging. Animals receiving sugar had 50% more intestinal fat deposition. Aspartame or acesulfame potassium did not increase intestinal fat deposition and gave an elevated pharyngeal pumping rate. These data suggested that sweeteners, aspartame or acesulfame potassium, alone or in beverages do not increase intestinal fat deposition in wild type C. elegans.Supported by LSU AgCenter