Artificial sweeteners such as sucralose are widely consumed in modern diets and often promoted as healthier alternatives to sugar. However, emerging evidence suggests that sucralose may influence metabolic processes and liver function, especially when consumed alongside alcohol, which is becoming increasingly common. The objective of this study was to investigate whether co-consumption of sucralose and ethanol exacerbates hepatic dysfunction compared to either substance alone and to determine if this combination differentially impacts health compared to sugar. We hypothesized that combined exposure would result in greater hepatic oxidative stress than individual treatments but not sugar or sugar and ethanol. Mice were divided into 6 treatment groups: Control, Sugar, Sucralose, Ethanol, Sugar/Ethanol, or Sucralose/Ethanol. Treatments were administered ad libitum via drinking water for twelve weeks, with sweetener concentrations reflecting average human intake (0.1 g/L sucralose, 100 g/L sucrose) and ethanol at 10%. Following the 12-weeks, standard measures of hepatic health were analyzed, including hepatic triglyceride content, lipid peroxidation, and serum transaminase levels, all by commercially available assay. Analysis of key genes associated with lipogenesis (SREBP-1c, FAS, DGAT2, etc.) and inflammation (IL-6, TNFα, etc.) will be performed. Early results showed no differences in serum liver transaminases, and tissue-level and qPCR data are forthcoming. This abstract was presented at the American Physiology Summit 2026 and is only available in HTML format. There is no downloadable file or PDF version. The Physiology editorial board was not involved in the peer review process.
Orlowski et al. (Fri,) studied this question.