Higher intake of six sweeteners tracked with faster cognitive decline

What the research found

ScienceDaily recirculated this on 29 October 2026 from an American Academy of Neurology release. The underlying paper is from 2025, not a new trial: Goncalves, Suemoto, and colleagues, Neurology 2025; 105(7), DOI 10.1212/WNL.0000000000214023, with a commentary at DOI 10.1212/WNL.0000000000214129. In 12,772 Brazilian adults, average age 52 at the start and followed for about 8 years, the highest intake of the sweeteners under study was about 191 mg a day, near one can of diet soda made with aspartame, and the lowest was about 20 mg a day. The highest group had a 62 percent faster decline in thinking and memory scores, about 1.6 extra years on those tests. The middle group declined 35 percent faster, about 1.3 years. The pattern was seen in adults younger than 60, in verbal fluency and overall cognition, and was not seen over 60. It was stronger in people with diabetes. The six sweeteners in the pattern were aspartame, saccharin, acesulfame-K, erythritol, sorbitol, and xylitol. Tagatose was not associated. Sorbitol had the highest average intake, at 64 mg a day. Intake was self-reported. The work is observational and does not show that these sweeteners cause the decline. Not medical advice.

Evidence level: Human study. A study in people, but an association isn't proof of cause.

Read the original at ScienceDaily