This review explores current knowledge on the environmental, oxidative, and genomic effects of sucralose (E955), an artificial sweetener widely used in food products, including those for children, and known to cross both the placental barrier and into breast milk. Although initially considered safe, research conducted over the past two decades has presented conflicting evidence regarding its long-term impact, particularly on ecosystems and biological systems. Structurally similar to chlorinated compounds such as perfluoralkyl substances (PFAS), sucralose is highly persistent in the environment, which complicates its degradation and removal, especially from aquatic systems. Several studies have reported behavioral, metabolic, and even genomic alterations in aquatic organisms exposed to sucralose, raising concerns about its broader ecological safety. In addition, its presence has been linked to shifts in microbiota composition in both environmental and human contexts. Reports of sucralose-induced oxidative stress further highlight the need for caution in its continued use, particularly in sensitive formulations. Given its widespread presence and resistance to degradation, further investigation into the environmental and biological safety of sucralose is urgently needed.

This review presents an in-depth analysis of the latest methods used for the determination of sucralose (E955), focusing on research conducted over the past 10 years. As a widely used sugar substitute in the food and pharmaceutical industries, sucralose has raised concerns about its environmental persistence, potential genotoxicity, and health impacts. This study examines several spectrophotometric, chromatographic, and electrochemical techniques, evaluating their sensitivity, selectivity, and limitations in differentiating sucralose from natural carbohydrates and other sweeteners. The review highlights the pressing need for novel detection methods that not only improve accuracy in trace detection but also address growing concerns about its bioaccumulation and conversion into harmful metabolites. Advancing these analytical techniques is essential for enhancing food safety, public health surveillance, and environmental risk assessment. Chromatographic methods are dominant in sucralose determination in foods and environmental objects, as they allow the determination of sucralose at micro- and nanomolar levels. However, spectrophotometric and electrochemical methods are frequently used as complementary to chromatographic methodologies, sensitizing them. On the other hand, purely spectrophotometric methods are less popular, and electrochemical methods remain underdeveloped. Therefore, the advancement of sucralose determination must be due to cheaper chromatographic and classical electrochemical methods.

Bisphenol A (BPA) is one of the most produced compounds worldwide. It acts as an endocrine disruptor and can cause adverse effects in the body, even at low-dose exposures. By interacting with estrogen receptors, it can play an important role in the pathogenesis of several endocrine diseases, such as infertility, hormone-dependent tumours and various metabolic disorders. Exposure in humans, especially early in life, is of particular concern, since it can have a big impact on an individual’s development and growth. The objective of this study was to evaluate, in vivo, the genotoxicity of BPA and its effects on longevity, prolificacy and behaviour in Drosophila melanogaster. To evaluate the biological and behavioural effects, flies were crossed and subjected to different concentrations of BPA (0.5 mM, 1 mM, 2 mM, 5 mM and 10 mM) in Drosophila instant “Carolina” medium hydrated with the BPA solution for 3 days, and then transferred to a non-treated medium, where they continued to lay eggs. This procedure was repeated to obtain the F₂ generation. To evaluate genotoxicity, the somatic mutation and recombination test (SMART) and Comet assays were performed. In these cases, higher concentrations of BPA were chosen (1 mM, 10 mM, 20 mM and 50 mM). The results showed that this compound caused changes in longevity and prolificacy, and that these changes also affected subsequent generations. They also showed that BPA affected Drosophila’s behaviour and social interaction, but at the exposure levels investigated here, it did not cause significant genotoxic effects.

A novel electroanalytical process for sucralose determination has been theoretically suggested. Sucralose is immobilized over an acridine derivative 9-9´-diacridyl, yielding a quaternary salt, which is thereby gradually electrochemically reduced to an N-N´-disubstituted acridone derivative. The correspondent mathematical model has been developed and analyzed by means of linear stability theory and bifurcation analysis, and this analysis has shown the high probability of the oscillatory and monotonic instabilities, due to the double electric layer structure changes during all of the stages of the process. Nevertheless, it also confirms the efficiency of 9-9´-diacridyl-modified electrode for sucralose determination in an electroanalytical system, which may be coupled with a fluorescent indicator. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.17807/orbital.v13i3.1584

Sugar and sucralose are frequently used together and separately in human food and beverages, which is the reason why studying their biological action on different organisms is really important. Nevertheless, the effect of highly concentrated sugar diet on male infertility is still under evaluation. The most important is that biological activity of sucralose, a chloroorganic synthetic sweetener, is highly persistent and difficultly altered in the environment, as its influence on the biological activity of other substances has not been completely elucidated yet. For this reason, in this work, sugar and sucralose–sugar mixtures, frequently used in beverages and other food products, influence Drosophila melanogaster behavior, longevity, reproductive performance, and genomic integrity is investigated. It has been demonstrated that an increase in sugar concentration promotes biological viability by enhancing prolificacy, lifespan, and locomotor performance. However, this only occurs up to a certain threshold concentration; beyond this, metabolic imbalance occurs. The presence of sucralose in solutions further augments the toxic effect, indicating high genotoxicity of the sweetener at doses over 0.5%, leading to significant DNA alterations and changing the Drosophila melanogaster behavior pattern. Therefore, either sugar or sucralose metabolic impact and toxicity is dose-related and their common presence in the solution might lead to the synergetic effect.