Intergenerational study on repercussions of the maternal ingestion to sodium saccharin during pregnancy and lactation in male offspring

Intergenerational inheritance can be determined through changes in the germ cell lineage. The “developmental origins of health and disease” (DOHaD) hypothesis indicates that changes in the intrauterine environment can affect the reproductive development of offspring. In this sense, sweeteners are nutritional additives and can be consumed during pregnancy and lactation. Recently, the WHO advised not to use non-sugar sweeteners for weight control in the newly released guidelines. Among the sweeteners, sodium saccharin is the most consumed worldwide, even in oral care products. It is a fact that this additive is totally permeable to the placenta and is part of breast milk. Our last study demonstrated that maternal exposure to sodium saccharin during the gestational and lactational periods directly affected the spermatogenesis of male offspring (published data), in addition to showing an increase in antioxidant enzymes present in the testes (unpublished).