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Sweetener, Diarrhea and Hidden Hunger

Short description

The acute diarrhea as a trigger for hidden hunger and its control by using the sweetener saccharin.


Which problem do I/we aim to solve ‐ and why?

Infectious diarrhea is not only the world’s number one leading cause of death in children under the age of 5, but also represents an important cause of hidden hunger and micronutrient deficiencies. At an average of about 5 diarrhea episodes per year many vital micronutrients are lost and impede corresponding programs for micronutrient supplementations.

Therefore it is important to effectively counteract the diarrhea-related loss of micronutrients. Strategies for preventing infectious diarrhea through clean water and improved hygiene standards due help but cannot be consistently enforced everywhere. Antibiotics may reduce time period of the disease but they are not widely available, relatively expensive, lead to the development of resistances and require a previous contact to a physician.

What actually is needed is an effective drug for the treatment of infantile infectious diarrhea, which is always available and inexpensive, has no risk of antibiotic resistance and can be used in self-medication.


Our/My idea for a solution

Previous work from the laboratory, where I currently write my bachelor thesis, demonstrated that the artificial sweetener saccharin can a) effectively and b) by the FDA approved in health-safe doses, significantly reduce the number of commensal gut bacteria in mice. In my master thesis I want to examine based on mice, whether the already proven antibacterial effect of saccharin is also sufficient to improve the symptoms of acute colitis caused by bacterial pathogens. If the experiments affirm this thesis, the results would be a good basis for a subsequent clinical trial to investigate the therapeutic potential of saccharin in terms of infectious diarrhea in vivo. In the long term, the use of saccharin could increase effectiveness of programs to combat micronutrient deficiency in countries such as Zambia by shortening and reducing the episodes of diarrhea.


Why is my/our solution an innovative idea and tackles the challenge from a new perspective

To counteract hidden hunger, it is important to address the causes. Our approach will help patients who lose innumerable micronutrients due to infectious diarrhea. This shall be done by using saccharin – it is widely available, inexpensive and can be used already at the first symptoms, without previously occupying medical resources. A further advantage of saccharin is that in contrast to conventional antibiotics no resistances have been described.


How is my/our idea feasible?

The mice are infected by bacteria using established procedures and are subsequently treated with various doses of saccharin. Parallel, saccharin could also be given previously and thus its protective effects can be studied as well.

The effectiveness is checked based on established read out parameters, such as the number of bacteria in various tissue compartments like the mesenteric lymph nodes (MLNs) or in the liver tissue.

First conclusive results can be produced within a few months.

Which methods and channels do I/we want to utilise?

The necessary equipment needed in a research lab is fully provided by the Institute of Nutritional Medicine at the University of Lübeck.

Using this equipment, the effect of saccharin as an antimicrobial agent can be investigated.

What’s my/our expected outcome and improvement?

We expect a significant reduction of bacteria in the gut as well as a change in the composition of the enteric microbiome, which is detectable by sequencing. Furthermore, we expect a slowdown in disease activity as well as a protective function of saccharin in infectious colitis. Also, giving saccharin would protect non-infected people as well.

What's my/our budget and which partners I/we would expect to be valuable

The grant of € 10,000 will be used for the initiation and evaluation of the first experiments. With positive results, an increase in the budget is intended by raising public funds.

Sweetener, Diarrhea and Hidden Hunger

Team: Caroline Hennig

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