EFFECTS OF SUCROSE, GLUCOSE AND STEVIA ON THE LONGEVITY AND FAT STORAGE OF CAENORHABDITIS ELEGANS

Emily Bruce

Date of Award

2017

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Bachelors

Department

Natural Sciences

First Advisor

Walstrom, Katherine

Area of Concentration

Chemistry

Abstract

Sugar consumption is a major cause of metabolic disease and other prevalent health problems worldwide. The natural sweetener stevia, a popular non-calorie sweetener, is considered a safer alternative though limited research exists on its effects. Using the model organism, Caenorhabditis elegans, we examined the effects of dietary sugars, sucrose and glucose, along with the natural sweetener stevia on life span and body fat content. A control group consumed E. coli (OP50) without any sweetener added to the nematode growth media (NGM). The addition of glucose, sucrose, or stevia to the NGM decreased the lifespan of C. elegans. The size and total body fat content of the adult worms were significantly greater for glucose, sucrose, and stevia (p< 0.0001) fed-worms relative to the control. When normalized to the worm size, sucrose and glucose did not show an increase in body fat while stevia resulted in a decrease in body fat (αEW= 0.008, p=.003). The similar results obtained from dietary sucrose and glucose implies that sucrose was hydrolyzed to form glucose and fructose. These findings indicate that a low sugar-diet may be beneficial to the health of higher organisms and raises further questions regarding the use and efficacy of stevia.

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