Acesulfame potassium and atherosclerosis in ApoE mice
What it found
In ApoE -/- mice fed a high cholesterol diet, adding acesulfame potassium worsened blood fats and increased fatty plaque in the aorta.
The same sweetener also changed fat-making and fat-burning in liver cells grown in the lab.
What they found
Animal and lab studies
Plaque in aorta
Mice on the high cholesterol diet given acesulfame potassium had a significantly larger atherosclerotic lesion area in the aortic sinus than mice on the high cholesterol diet alone. The authors say this suggests acesulfame potassium may speed up atherosclerosis.
Blood fats
In mice on the high cholesterol diet, acesulfame potassium further raised total cholesterol, triglycerides and LDL cholesterol, and lowered HDL cholesterol, compared with the high cholesterol diet alone.
Liver fat pathways
In the livers of these mice, acesulfame potassium increased proteins involved in making fat and decreased proteins involved in burning fat, compared with the high cholesterol diet alone.
Inflammation in cells
In RAW264.7 macrophages treated with acesulfame potassium for 24 hours, the expression of inflammatory cytokines Tnfa, Ccl2 and Il-6 showed no significant differences from untreated cells. The authors say this implies inflammation might not be involved in the accelerated atherosclerosis.
Liver cells in lab
In HepG2 liver cells, acesulfame potassium increased genes and proteins for making fat and decreased genes and proteins for burning fat, in a dose-dependent way.
Body weight and calories
Body weight did not differ significantly between the high cholesterol diet group and the high cholesterol diet plus acesulfame potassium group. Daily calorie intake was significantly lower in the acesulfame potassium group.
What the authors conclude
- They conclude that acesulfame potassium worsened high cholesterol diet-induced dyslipidemia by increasing lipogenesis and decreasing lipolysis, and that these effects might further exacerbate atherosclerosis in ApoE -/- mice.
- They say that acesulfame potassium might disturb lipid metabolism in the liver, which further contributes to lipid dysregulation and enhances the progression of atherosclerosis.
- They state that the effects of acesulfame potassium on the development of atherosclerosis in humans still need further studies to investigate.
How it was done
Obesity raises the risk of heart disease, and acesulfame potassium is widely used as a no-calorie sweetener to help with obesity. The authors say the effects of this sweetener on cardiovascular disease are still unclear.
They fed ApoE -/- mice either a standard chow diet or a high cholesterol diet for 8 weeks, with or without acesulfame potassium at 15 mg/kg body weight per day, which they say equals the acceptable daily intake. They also treated RAW264.7 macrophages and HepG2 liver cells with acesulfame potassium in the lab.
What it can’t tell you
- These are animal and cell studies. They can't show what happens in people.
- The ApoE -/- mouse model does not compare well to humans in terms of lipid profile, so the effects in humans still need further study.
- The study cannot prove that acesulfame potassium causes atherosclerosis in people.
Who paid
- Funding
- Funded by Ministry of Science and Technology, Taiwan (from the PubMed record).
- Conflicts
- The authors declare no conflict of interest.
- Authors work at
- Taipei Medical University, Taiwan; National Taiwan University Hospital, Taiwan; National Taiwan University, Taiwan
The paper
- Title
- Consumption of Non-Nutritive Sweetener, Acesulfame Potassium Exacerbates Atherosclerosis through Dysregulation of Lipid Metabolism in ApoE -/- Mice
- Type
- Study
- Evidence
- Animals and lab studies
- Summarised from
- Full text
- Cite
- Lin CH, Li HY, Wang SH, Chen YH, Chen YC, Wu HT (2021). Consumption of Non-Nutritive Sweetener, Acesulfame Potassium Exacerbates Atherosclerosis through Dysregulation of Lipid Metabolism in ApoE -/- Mice. Nutrients. doi:10.3390/nu13113984Free full textPubMed 34836239DOI
Summary written 26 Sep 2026. Check it against the paper before it changes what you eat. How we summarise papers · Report an error