Nutraceutical Potential and Food Safety of Fructose in Soda and Diet Beverages

TL;DR

This study evaluates the safety and health benefits of fructose and soda beverages using fruit fly and human cell models.

Contribution

The study introduces new insights into the DNA safety and chemopreventive potential of fructose and soda beverages.

Findings

Fructose, Pepsi-cola, and Diet Coke showed no toxicity or mutagenic activity in Drosophila melanogaster.

Pepsi-cola exhibited protective effects in antitoxity assays with an 80% survival rate in combined treatments.

All three substances showed chemopreventive properties in human leukemia HL-60 cells.

Abstract

Fructose has been considered as an additive from soda beverages. For the approval of new additives or to extend the usage of an approved one, it is necessary to conduct toxicological studies in order to evaluate the DNA damage induced by these compounds. Our study is based on evaluating the safety and the nutraceutical potential of Fructose (FRU), a soda cola beverage (Pepsi-cola, PEP), and a diet soda cola (Diet Coke, DCC), characterizing the DNA changes induced in the Drosophila melanogaster organism model and in the human leukemia HL-60 cells performing different assays. Our results showed neither the toxicity nor mutagenic activity of FRU, PEP, and DCC in Drosophila melanogaster, while only PEP exhibited protective effects in the antitoxity assay, showing an 80% survival rate in combined treatments. FRU, but not PEP, enhanced lifespan parameters by up to 23 more days at the 5 mg/mL concentration. All three substances exhibited chemopreventive properties in some of the checkpoints carried out related to clastogenicity and methylation patterns in HL-60 cells. In conclusion, the tested compounds were safe at tested concentrations in Drosophila and showed moderate chemopreventive activity.

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