A newly released study by Florida State University found that the ingestion of aspartame—a popular artificial sweetener found in “diet” foods, could come with a deleterious impact on not only persons ingesting it but also future generations. 

The test, which focused on mice that drank water spiked with aspartame equivalent to a human drinking two to four 8-ounce cans of diet soda, found that male mice passed on memory deficiencies blamed on aspartame to the next generation. 

“It was not seen in the grandchildren, only in the children [of the male mice], which is another line of support that these kinds of transmissions occur due to epigenetic changes in the sperm,” the authors of the study said.

The mice that consumed aspartame showed significant spatial learning and working memory deficits, the study said. The male mice who consumed aspartame were bred with female mice who did not ingest the sweetener and their offspring showcased similar deficiencies in learning and memory as the mice who ingested aspartame.

Dr. Kelly Johnson-Arbor, a medical toxicology physician in Washington who was not involved in the study told Fox News that the results of the study “suggest that even low-level consumption of aspartame may contribute to memory and learning problems that may be hereditary across generations.”

TRENDPOST: The Trends Journal has reported extensively on the risks that come with artificial sweeteners. (See “TOP SWEETENER OFFICIALLY DECLARED A CARCINOGEN,” 18 Jul 2023, “MORE REASONS TO QUIT USING ANY ARTIFICIAL SWEETENERS” 27 Jun 2023, and “NON-SUGAR SWEETENERS DON’T HELP YOU LOSE WEIGHT, AND CAN BE HURTING YOU: WHO” 23 May 2023.)

The World Health Organization said in May that artificial sweeteners should not be used by individuals as a weight-loss tool because they are ineffective in the long term and could have a negative impact on your health.

Dozens of studies have linked aspartame—the world’s most widely used artificial sweetener—to serious health problems, including cancer, cardiovascular disease, Alzheimer’s disease, seizures, stroke, and dementia.