前情提要：
来自冰岛大学国立血清研究所和哈佛大学公共卫生学院的研究者们对59334名女性进行了跟踪调查，发现每天喝含人造甜味剂的饮料与孕妇早产存在关联。研究发现，如果孕妇平均每天喝一罐含人造甜味剂的饮料，早产的几率会增加38%。每天喝4罐以上，早产的几率最高可增加78%。研究人员表示，某些人造甜味剂含有甲醇，而暴露于甲醇可能与早产存在一定联系。
甜味剂被广泛使用：
在食品饮料产品中，甜味剂使用的很普遍，并且作为可以减少糖类摄入的产品，被广大的食品企业使用，以求提供给消费者健康的产品。据Leatherhead国际性组织统计，2007年甜味剂在全球市场价值18.3亿美元。
虽然所有的甜味剂在欧盟和美国已批准使用，且被是食品安全当局所认可，但近来一些互联网论坛、新闻报道和一些科学文献 - 包括美国临床营养杂志的新研究 - 继续推动大众对甜味剂的怀疑。
来自业界的反应
卡路里控制委员会（低热量和少脂肪的食品饮料产业的国际协会）说，这项研究挑战了科学文献的权威性，并提供了误导消费者的结论 。
“这项研究可能会使孕妇过分恐慌”来自卡路里控制委员会的贝丝胡布里希说，“虽然这项研究是为了说明甜味剂用于妊娠期是不安全的，但它的结果也同时表明了，超重和肥胖对妊娠会产生不良影响。”“主要的医学团体支持在孕期使用低热量甜味剂。 此外，低热量的甜味剂可以帮助怀孕的妇女享受甜味的同时又不摄入过多的热量，为摄入营养的食品饮料留下充裕的空间，而且也未因此增重-而这却被证明是对母亲和胎儿有害的。”她补充说。
国际甜味剂协会也重申了这些声明（该组织代表低热量甜味剂制造商和使用者）。“以前被授权的所有用于食品和饮料的低热量的甜味剂，必须经过由独立的国家和国际科学专家委员在安全范围内的评估，”该协会说，“这些评估已考虑到了潜在的敏感群体，如孕妇、婴幼儿和儿童。”“有很多因素会增加早产的风险：吸烟、贫血、糖尿病、营养不良、压力、抑郁等。 同样也包括超重和肥胖。”
本报道由食品伙伴网编译整理，仅供食品行业相关人士参考，我们并未对此文进行全文翻译，详细内容请见原文报道。
原文地址：http://www.foodnavigator.com/Science-Nutrition/Industry-challenges-misleading-sweetener-premature-birth-study
原文报道：
Industry challenges ‘misleading’ sweetener-premature birth study
By Stephen Daniells, 03-Aug-2010A study linking consumption of artificially sweetened beverages to an increased risk of preterm births has been dismissed by the sweetener industry as ‘misleading’ and ‘not plausible scientifically’.
According to findings published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, pregnant Danish women who consumed at least four servings of artificially sweetened carbonated soft drinks per day were at a 78 per cent higher risk of preterm birth than women who did not consume any soft drinks.
Researchers from Statens Serum Institut in Copenhagen, the University of Iceland, and Harvard School of Public Health analysed data from 59,334 women participating in the Danish National Birth Cohort. Drinking only one serving of artificially sweetened carbonated soft drinks per day was associated with a 38 per cent increase in the risk of premature birth. No associations were observed for sugar-sweetened beverages.
“Our findings suggest that the daily intake of artificially sweetened soft drinks may be associated with an increased risk of preterm delivery,” wrote the researchers. “The relative consistency of our findings for carbonated and noncarbonated soft drinks and the absence of an association for sugar-sweetened soft drinks suggest that the content of artificial sweeteners might be the causal factor.
The researchers stress, however, that their study is the first to report this association and that their findings need to be replicated "in another experimental setting" in order to confirm or reject the current results.
Extensive use
The use of sweeteners in food and beverage products is widespread and has gathered yet more pace as food firms seek to deliver healthier products, with less sugar, to consumers. According to Leatherhead International, the global market for sweeteners was worth US$1.83bn in 2007.
Although all the sweeteners used in the EU and US have been approved and are deemed safe by the food safety authorities, internet forums, newspaper reports and some scientific literature – including the new AJCN study – continue to promote suspicion.
Industry response
The Calorie Control Council, an international association representing the low-calorie and reduced-fat food and beverage industry, said the study challenged “the weight of the scientific literature and provides misleading conclusions”.
“This study may unduly alarm pregnant women,” said Beth Hubrich, a dietitian with the Calorie Control Council. “While this study is counter to the weight of the scientific evidence demonstrating that low-calorie sweeteners are safe for use in pregnancy, research has shown that overweight and obesity can negatively affect pregnancy outcomes.
“Leading health groups support the use of low-calorie sweeteners in pregnancy. Further, low-calorie sweeteners can help pregnant women enjoy the taste of sweets without excess calories, leaving room for nutritious foods and beverages without excess weight gain – something that has been shown to be harmful to both the mother and developing baby,” she added.
These statements were echoed by the International Sweeteners Association, an organisation representing manufacturers and users of low-calorie sweeteners. “Before being authorised for use in food and drinks, all low-calorie sweeteners must undergo a range of safety evaluations by independent national and international scientific expert committees,” said the association. “These evaluations take into account potentially sensitive groups such as pregnant women, infants and children.
“There are many factors that increase the risk of premature births, such as smoking, diabetes, poor nutrition, anaemia, stress, depression and many more. They include overweight and obesity,” it added.
What they measured
The new study evaluated intakes of carbonated and noncarbonated sugar-sweetened and sugar-free/ light soft drinks and/or cola using food frequency questionnaires. Statistical analysis of the data took into account non-dietary risk factors of premature delivery, including the mother’s age, her height, her BMI prior to becoming pregnant, her cohabitant status, her smoking habits, and her familial socio-occupational status.
Lead researcher Thorhallur Halldorsson told FoodNavigator that women who developed gestational diabetes were eliminated from the study. "[However], we do not have any data at the moment on pre-existing diabetes but we are working on that issue and we will have those numbers in the near future".
Dr Halldorson added that the average age of the women was 29 and that "type-II diabetes is unlikely to be a problem and that assumption is partly supported by the fact that we observed similar effects among normal- and overweight women.
"It would have been an added strength to have numbers on type I diabetes," added Dr Halldorson.
Despite the apparently strong associations for artificial sweeteners overall, the researchers stated it was difficult to differentiate since “most artificially sweetened soft drinks include mixtures of different sweeteners”. Indeed, an earlier Danish survey found that most diet drinks in the country were sweetener with a blend of aspartame and acesulfame-K.
“Given that a mixture of artificial sweeteners are used in the production of soft drinks, the lack of studies with respect to pregnancy complications, and the controversy surrounding the health effects for some of those sweeteners, the replication or rejection of our findings in other independent data are warranted,” wrote the researchers.
Biologically plausible?
Commenting on a potential mechanism, the researchers note that aspartame is broken down in the body to produce aspartic acid, phenylalanine, and methanol. A study with primates indicated that low dose methanol exposure may reduce the gestation period, said the researchers (Neurotoxicol Teratol., 2004, Vol. 26, pp. 639-650).
In response to this mechanism, the AminoSweet Information Service (AIS), the information service for Ajinomoto’s AminoSweet aspartame ingredient, said the study’s findings were “not plausible scientifically”.
“The amount of methanol produced from the aspartame used to sweeten a 330ml can of low calorie beverage is less than that contained in a small banana, and half the amount in a 220ml glass of tomato juice,” stated the AIS. “The body treats the methanol produced during digestion of food in exactly the same way no matter what its source.”
“At a time when the consequences of overweight and obesity, including in pregnancy, pose a significant challenge to public health, scare-mongering about this low calorie sweetener does the public a disservice,” stated the AIS.
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