(P07-002-23) Sucralose Consumption During Pregnancy Alters Birthweight, Insulin, and Markers of Systemic Inflammation in Neonates: Evidence of Sucralose Role in Fetal Programming

Objectives: To examine birth weight, insulin levels, and markers of systemic inflammation in neonates born from mothers who consumed or not sucralose during pregnancy.

Methods: We investigated the effects of sucralose ingestion during pregnancy on birth weight, glucose and insulin circulating levels, monocyte subsets, and interleukin (IL-) 1 beta, tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF-alpha), and IL-10 expression. We enrolled 292 mothers and neonates. Two hundred-five mothers lightly consumed sucralose of less than 60 mg per week, whereas 87 heavily ingested sucralose of more than 36 mg daily during pregnancy. We used a pediatric scale to measure weight in neonates at birth. We measured glucose and insulin levels in the umbilical cord blood by the glucose oxidase assay and the enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA), respectively. We isolated white blood cells from cord blood to characterize the three monocyte subsets by flow cytometry. We quantified the expression profile of pro- and anti-inflammatory cytokines in umbilical cord tissue by real-time PCR.

Results: Infants born from mothers who intensely ingested sucralose during pregnancy showed increases in birth weight and serum insulin compared to newborns from mothers who occasionally consumed sucralose (p = 0.0005 and p = 0.0425, respectively). Newborns intensely exposed to sucralose during pregnancy displayed a significant increase in the percentage of inflammatory nonclassical monocytes compared to neonates from mothers who occasionally ingested sucralose (p  < 0.001). Umbilical cord tissue from infants heavily exposed to sucralose exhibited higher IL-1 beta and TNF-alpha with lower IL-10 expression than that found in newborns from others who lightly consumed sucralose (p = 0.003, p = 0.048, p  < 0.001, respectively).

Conclusions: Maternal intake of sucralose during pregnancy is associated with increased birth weight, circulating insulin, and low-grade systemic inflammation in neonates born at term. We encourage other research teams around the globe to reevaluate the apparent safety of sucralose ingestion during pregnancy.

Funding Sources: This research was funded by the Consejo Nacional de Ciencia y Tecnología (CONACYT-México).

JAA-G is a doctoral student from the Programa de Doctorado en Ciencias Biomédicas of the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (UNAM) and thanks CONACYT fellowship no. CVU959984.