CSU Channel Islands (CSUCI) Professor of Biology Nitika Parmar. Courtesy photos.
CAMARILLO — How do artificial sweeteners affect a woman managing a chronic disease like cancer, diabetes or hypertension? CSU Channel Islands (CSUCI) 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 “oral microbiomes” with samples from women who do not have the chronic disease, to see how the sweetener affects these different microbiologic environments.
“We want to see if these bacteria will be able to grow on artificial sweeteners or not,” Parmar said. “Normally bacteria love glucose, so we are going to starve them and substitute artificial sweeteners for the glucose. Then we’ll see how the different oral microbiomes affect the bacteria’s ability to grow based on a combination of diet and the disease.”
Parmar and the student research assistants will examine how well the bacteria isolated from the patients’ 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.
“We do know that a lot of people use sugar substitutes and artificial sweeteners, which have zero calories and these are flooding the market,” Parmar said. “The 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.”
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 February 1, 2025 through January 31, 2026.
CALIFORNIA STATE UNIVERSITY CHANNEL ISLANDS
California State University Channel Islands?(CSUCI) is Ventura County’s only public university and opened in 2002 as the 23rd campus in the?CSU system. CSUCI is located between Camarillo and the Oxnard Plain, midway between Santa Barbara and Los Angeles.
The campus is nestled against the foothills of the Santa Monica Mountains and is a 10-minute drive from the Pacific Ocean. With more than 4,880 students, 29,000 alumni, and 1,000 employees, CSUCI is poised to grow in size and distinction, while maintaining one of the most student-focused learning environments in public higher education with more than 90 academic degrees, teaching credentials, certificates, and professional and community programs.
CSUCI is a Hispanic Serving Institution (HSI) and as a result of student and faculty research has also earned the distinguished “Research Colleges and Universities” or “RCU” designation from the?Carnegie Classification of Institutions of Higher Education.
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