人工合成甜味剂可能会清理掉肠道内部的有益细菌_时事

人工合成甜味剂可能会清理掉肠道内部的有益细菌

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Until recently, most people thought artificial (no-calorie) sweeteners passed through the bodywithout doing anything. That's what makes them appealing. They add a sweet taste withoutthe caloric cost. Many diet foods, from soft drinks to desserts, are sweetened with thesesubstances. But that may come with a different cost.

近来很多人仍以为食用过人工甜味剂(零热量糖精)后不会给身体造成任何影响。这也是它们吸引人的原因之一。它们会在不增加任何热量的情况下把食物变甜。许多减肥食物，像软饮和甜品等添加过这种甜料后都会变甜，但更大的代价可能也会随之出现。

To probe the sweeteners' effects, Eran Segal and Eran Elinav ran tests on mice. Segal is acomputational biologist. Elinav is an immunologist. Both researchers work at the WeizmannInstitute of Science in Rehovot, Israel. The researchers added artificial sweeteners to theanimals' drinking water. Those sweeteners included saccharin, aspartame and sucralose.

为了探究甜料对食用者的影响，Eran Segal和Eran Elinav对老鼠进行了实验。前者是一名计算生物学家，后者是一名免疫学者。两位研究员均在以色列雷霍沃特威茨曼科学研究学院工作。他们把糖精，阿斯巴甜和三氯蔗糖等人工甜料加进动物的饮用水中。

After 11 weeks, the animals showed problems with their metabolism. Unusually high levels of atype of sugar called glucose circulated in their blood after meals. This suggested the sweetenersimpaired their bodies' ability to process glucose.