March 17, 2025 - How do artificial sweeteners affect a woman managing a chronic disease
like cancer, diabetes or hypertension? (海角社区CI) Professor of Biology Nitika Parmar plans to research this question in partnership
with Cottage Health, thanks to a $28,477 grant from the Cottage Health Research Institute-CHRI.
The award was made possible through support from Santa Barbara philanthropists Alex
Pananides and Janet Larson Dunbar.
Parmar is recruiting both undergraduate and graduate student assistants to assist with the project, which will involve getting cheek and tongue swab samples from 180 female patients who have different metabolic diseases such as hypertension, diabetes, obesity or certain cancers (this research is specific to women as these were the parameters of the research grant). Parmar will compare these 鈥渙ral microbiomes鈥 with samples from women who do not have the chronic disease, to see how the sweetener affects these different microbiologic environments.
鈥淲e want to see if these bacteria will be able to grow on artificial sweeteners or not,鈥 Parmar said. 鈥淣ormally bacteria love glucose, so we are going to starve them and substitute artificial sweeteners for the glucose. Then we鈥檒l see how the different oral microbiomes affect the bacteria鈥檚 ability to grow based on a combination of diet and the disease.鈥
Parmar and the student research assistants will examine how well the bacteria isolated from the patients鈥 oral cavity will grow on sugar substitutes, based on their dietary inclinations as well as the treatments they are receiving for their diseases. There will be 30 patients in each disease category allowing exploration of a variety of metabolic ailments.
As prolific as artificial or zero calorie sugar substitutes are, Parmar believes there has not been nearly enough research conducted on the effects of the substitutes- especially for those who are compromised by a metabolic disorder or cancer.
鈥淲e do know that a lot of people use sugar substitutes and artificial sweeteners, which have zero calories and these are flooding the market,鈥 Parmar said. 鈥淭he problem is, they are not regulated by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), which gives a green light for anybody who wants to make all kinds of claims about their safety without scientific evidence.鈥
Parmar and her student research assistants will be responsible for conducting the experiments and Cottage Health Research Institute scientist Fiona Asigbee and a clinical research coordinator will be responsible for recruiting the patients who will be involved in the study.
The grant enables the research project to run from Feb. 1, 2025 through January 31, 2026.