Artificial sweetener consumption linked to less effective cancer treatment: Study
In the study, high consumption of sucralose was linked with lower effectiveness of immunotherapies across a range of cancer types, stages and treatment methods.
In patients with melanoma or non-small cell lung cancer, consuming high levels of the artificial sweetener sucralose contributes to diminished responses to immunotherapy and poorer survival, researchers reported in Cancer Discovery.
When the researchers had 132 patients with advanced melanoma or non-small cell lung cancer answer detailed diet history questionnaires, they found that high consumption of sucralose was linked with lower effectiveness of immunotherapies across a range of cancer types, stages and treatment methods.
In experiments with mice, the researchers found that sucralose shifts the composition of microbes in the intestines, increasing bacterial species that degrade arginine, an amino acid that is essential for key immune cells called T cells.
'When arginine levels were depleted due to sucralose-driven shifts in the microbiome, T cells couldn't function properly,' study leader Abby Overacre of the University of Pittsburgh said in a statement. 'As a result, immunotherapy wasn't as effective in mice that were fed sucralose.'
Laying the groundwork for a solution to the problem, the same researchers also found in the mice that supplements that boosted levels of arginine mitigated the negative effects of sucralose on immunotherapy, an approach they now hope to test in humans.
'It's easy to say 'stop drinking diet soda', but when patients are being treated for cancer, they are already dealing with enough, so asking them to drastically alter their diet may not be realistic,' Assistant Professor Overacre said.
'That's why it's so exciting that arginine supplementation could be a simple approach to counteract the negative effects of sucralose on immunotherapy.' REUTERS
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Straits Times
3 hours ago
- Straits Times
Nigerian nurses end strike following deal with government
FILE PHOTO: A view of an empty ward of the emergency unit of National Orthopaedic Hospital, as Nigerian nurses begin a strike over poor support from the government in Lagos, Nigeria, July 30, 2025. REUTERS/Sodiq Adelakun/File Photo LAGOS - Nurses in Nigeria's public hospitals suspended their seven-day "warning strike" on Saturday after reaching an agreement with the government over the implementation of their demands, the nurses' union said. The National Association of Nigeria Nurses and Midwives said in a statement that the government has responded to their demands and provided "clear timelines" for putting them in place, but added that they would be monitoring the implementation of the signed memorandum of understanding. The nurses began the action on July 30, threatening to scale it up to an indefinite strike if their demands were not met within the seven days. They are demanding higher pay, better working conditions, and increased recruitment. The nurses' union held a meeting on Friday with representatives of the government led by Minister of Health and Social Welfare Ali Pate and his counterpart in the Labour and Employment Ministry, Muhammad Dingyadi. Pate had earlier announced a suspension of the strike after the meeting, pledging that the government would address the issues raised by the nurses. The meeting also resolved that no nurse who participated in the strike would be punished by the government. REUTERS
AsiaOne
6 hours ago
- AsiaOne
'If the baby could speak, she would scream': The risky measures to feed small babies in Gaza, Asia News
GAZA/CAIRO/JERUSALEM — In a makeshift tent on a Gazan beach, three-month-old Muntaha's grandmother grinds up chickpeas into the tiniest granules she can to form a paste to feed the infant, knowing it will cause her to cry in pain, in a desperate race to keep the baby from starving. "If the baby could speak, she would scream at us, asking what we are putting into her stomach," her aunt, Abir Hamouda said. Muntaha grimaced and squirmed as her grandmother fed her the paste with a syringe. Muntaha's family is one of many in Gaza facing dire choices to try to feed babies, especially those below the age of six months who cannot process solid food. Infant formula is scarce after a plummet in aid access to Gaza. Many women cannot breastfeed due to malnourishment, while other babies are separated from their mothers due to displacement, injury or, in Muntaha's case, death. Her family says the baby's mother was hit by a bullet while pregnant, gave birth prematurely while unconscious in intensive care, and died a few weeks later. The director of the Shifa Hospital described such a case in a Facebook post on April 27, four days after Muntaha was born. "I am terrified about the fate of the baby," said her grandmother, Nemah Hamouda. "We named her after her she can survive and live long, but we are so afraid, we hear children and adults die every day of hunger." Muntaha now weighs about 3.5kg, her family said, barely more than half of what a full-term baby her age would normally weigh. She suffers stomach problems like vomiting and diarrhoea after feeding. Health officials, aid workers and Gazan families told Reuters many families are feeding infants herbs and tea boiled in water, or grinding up bread or sesame. Humanitarian agencies also reported cases of parents boiling leaves in water, eating animal feed and grinding sand into flour. Feeding children solids too early can disrupt their nutrition, cause stomach problems, and risk choking, paediatric health experts say. "It's a desperate move to compensate for the lack of food," said UNICEF spokesperson Salim Oweis. "When mothers can't breastfeed or provide proper infant formula they resort to grinding chickpeas, bread, rice, anything that they can get their hands on to feed their children... it is risking their health because these supplies are not made for infants to feed on." Baby bottles without milk Gaza's spiralling humanitarian crisis prompted the main world hunger monitoring body on Tuesday to say a worst-case scenario of famine is unfolding and immediate action is needed to avoid widespread death. Images of emaciated Palestinian children have shocked the world. Gazan health authorities have reported more and more people dying from hunger-related causes. The total so far stands at 154, among them 89 children, most of whom died in the last few weeks. With the international furore over Gaza's ordeal growing, Israel announced steps over the weekend to ease aid access. But the UN World Food Programme said on Tuesday it was still not getting the permissions it needed to deliver enough aid. Israel and the US accuse militant group Hamas of stealing aid — which the militants deny — and the UN of failing to prevent it. The UN says it has not seen evidence of Hamas diverting much aid. Hamas accuses Israel of causing starvation and using aid as a weapon, which the Israeli government denies. Humanitarian agencies say there is almost no infant formula left in Gaza. The cans available in the market cost over US$100 (S$129) — impossible to afford for families like Muntaha's, whose father has been jobless since the war closed his falafel business and displaced the family from their home. In the paediatric ward of Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in the central Gaza city of Deir al-Balah, the infant formula supply is mostly depleted. One mother showed how she poured thick tahini sesame paste into a bottle and mixed it with water. "I am using this instead of milk, to compensate her for milk, but she won't drink it," said Azhar Imad, 31, the mother of four-month-old Joury. "I also make her fenugreek, anise, caraway, any kind of herbs (mixed with water)," she said, panicked as she described how instead of nourishing her child, these attempts were making her sick. Medical staff at the hospital spoke of helplessness, watching on as children's health deteriorated with no way to safely feed them. "Now, children are being fed either water or ground hard legumes, and this is harmful for children in Gaza," said doctor Khalil Daqran. "If the hunger continues... within three or four days, if the child doesn't get access to milk immediately, then they will die," he said. [[nid:720855]]
Straits Times
13 hours ago
- Straits Times
US couple welcomes baby boy from embryo frozen for nearly 31 years
Sign up now: Get ST's newsletters delivered to your inbox Thaddeus Daniel Pierce began as an embryo in 1994, the same year that Forrest Gump hit theatres and the first PlayStation. Thaddeus Daniel Pierce took his first breaths at a hospital in Knoxville, Tennessee, on July 26. He weighed 3kg, had a modest tuft of hair, and technically was already more than 30 years old. His life began as an embryo in 1994, the same year that Forrest Gump hit theatres and the first PlayStation appeared on store shelves. Thaddeus had spent the intervening 11,148 days in cold storage, a tiny time capsule in liquid nitrogen, before being adopted by Ms Lindsey Pierce, 35, and Mr Tim Pierce, 34, from Ohio. The Pierces' son is believed to be the result of the longest-frozen embryo ever brought to term. Ms Pierce said they 'weren't trying for a record'. 'We just wanted a baby,' she said. 'He is so chill. We are in awe that we have this precious baby.' The embryo belonged to Ms Linda Archerd, now 62, who in the 90s turned to in-vitro fertilisation (IVF) after fighting infertility for years. Top stories Swipe. Select. Stay informed. Singapore Opening of Woodlands Health has eased load on KTPH, sets standard for future hospitals: Ong Ye Kung Singapore New vehicular bridge connecting Punggol Central and Seletar Link to open on Aug 3 Singapore New S'pore jobs portal launched for North West District residents looking for work near home Singapore HSA investigating teen who was observed to be allegedly vaping in MRT train Asia KTM plans new passenger rail service in Johor Bahru to manage higher footfall expected from RTS Singapore Tengah facility with over 40 animal shelters, businesses hit by ticks Business Property 'decoupling' illegal if done solely to avoid taxes: High Court Singapore 60 years of building Singapore Back then, the ability to freeze and thaw embryos was still something of a frontier. Ms Archerd's IVF treatments resulted in four embryos, and she had intended to use them all. The first one led to a daughter, but a divorce later left the remaining three suspended not only in nitrogen but also in limbo. For years, Ms Archerd paid the storage fees, first dutifully, then guiltily. 'I used to think of them as three little hopes,' she said. Eventually, she founded Snowflakes, a Christian-oriented embryo-adoption programme that lets donors choose adoptive families and maintain some degree of openness. It offered a compromise between letting the embryos expire and the more abstract anonymity of donation. Embryo adoption remains rare. Just 2 per cent of US births involve IVF, and an even smaller fraction involve embryos that began as someone else's. Meanwhile, an estimated 1.5 million embryos sit in freezers across the United States, awaiting either a second chance or an administrative decision. What do to with 'leftovers'? Dr John David Gordon, the Pierces' fertility specialist, said the problem 'is that we're very good at making embryos, but we're not very good at deciding what to do with the leftovers'. Dr Gordon's clinic, Rejoice Fertility, is known for accepting even the most geriatric embryos, sometimes shipped across the US in ageing containers. Of the three embryos that Ms Archerd donated to the Pierces, one did not survive the thaw. Two were transferred to Ms Pierce, and one was implanted. That single embryo – older than some of the nurses in the delivery room – became a living child. The achievement comes against a shifting legal backdrop. Earlier in 2024, Alabama's Supreme Court ruled that frozen embryos are legally equivalent to children, briefly throwing IVF clinics into panic. Legislators have since offered temporary liability protections, but the question of how to treat embryos – ethically, legally, emotionally – remains unsettled. Ms Archerd says she feels relief, mixed with a kind of melancholy. She has received photos of the boy from the Pierces and hopes one day to meet him. 'I would love to see him,' she said. 'Just to know that he's real, and that my little hopes are out in the world.'
