Abstract

Background: Obesity is the single most important risk factor in the onset of various diseases. Dieting is considered as an important part of today’s daily life; the aim of our study is to explore the effects of aspartame on autonomic reactivity and compare it with the effects of aspartame-sweetened diet drink in human volunteers.

Aim and Objectives: To study and compare the effect of aspartame and aspartame-sweetened diet drink on autonomic reactivity.

Materials and Methods: This is a comparative study done in the department of physiology. After getting an Institutional Ethical Committee clearance and explained informed and written consent from all the participants. The study duration was for 2 months and the study population was 120 volunteers of age 20–30 years of both genders were randomly chosen and included in the study. They were divided randomly as 80 volunteers in the study group and 40 in the control group. The study Group A in whom aspartame (artificial sweetener) diluted in water was given. Group B in whom diet drink was given and Group C as controls who was fed with plain water and tested for various parameters of autonomic reactivity.

Results: The findings in our study showed increased sympathetic activity after consumption of aspartame diluted in water and also showed further increased sympathetic activity in subjects who consumed aspartame-sweetened diet drink than the controls.

Conclusion: Aspartame is causing various health hazardous to humans, it is no safer to consume aspartame as a sugar substitute.

Key words: Aspartame; Autonomic Reactivity; Diet Drink