3 Ways Sugar And Artificial Sweeteners Affect Gut Health

Right now, your gut is swimming with bacteria — good and bad. Maintaining a good balance between the two is key to helping you stay healthy. One of the ways to support that is to give your gut flora supportive food, not detrimental. Sugar and artificial sweeteners can affect your gut health in some not-so-friendly ways. You probably have heard about the artificial sweeteners aspartame, saccharin, and sucralose—three of the biggest offenders—but can also add sugar to that list.

Shocking Facts about Artificial Sweeteners and Your Gut

Here’s a rundown of three problems artificial sweeteners could cause.

1. Fake Sweeteners Cause Glucose Intolerance

One study suggests Splenda, a popular sucralose-based sweetener, can decrease good bacteria levels in the gut. ^[1] But it’s not just sucralose; other studies suggest all artificial sweeteners can actually influence the microbiome (your gut’s bacteria). This loss of good bacteria can lead to glucose intolerance, something that could lead to diabetes. ^[2]

2. Artificial Sweeteners Lead to Weight Gain

If you’re using artificial sweeteners and sugar, you might want to know that a recent report suggests fake sweeteners can actually change the way your body processes sugar. Yes, while this could raise blood sugar, leading to a bigger issue like diabetes, weight gain is also an outcome. Because these sweeteners contain no calories, they’re not digested, but they still have to travel through the gut. While there, they “may favor the growth of bacteria that make more calories available to us, calories that can then find their way to our hips, thighs and midriffs.” ^[3]

3. Sugar Damages Your Gut Flora

Another recent study even suggests sugar can promote the growth of bad bacteria in the gut. ^[4] This could lead to irritation in the gut, which could even manifest itself as an autoimmune response (allergies and skin conditions are two milder problems). There’s even recent evidence suggesting depression is actually your body’s response to swelling in the gut. ^[5]

One Final Thought

While the best thing you can do is cut sugar and artificial sweeteners out of your life completely, avoiding them might not always be practical for most people. An easy suggestion would be to support your gut health by taking probiotics (those “good” bacteria).

What do you do to keep a healthy gut? Tell us about it in the comments below.

References:

1. Abou-Donia, M.B. et al. Splenda alters gut microflora and increases intestinal p-glycoprotein and cytochrome p-450 in male rats. Journal of Toxicology and Environmental Health, Part A. 71 (21).


2. Suez, J. et al. Artificial sweeteners induce glucose intolerance by altering the gut microbiota. Nature. 514 (7521).


3. Shell, E. R. Artificial Sweeteners May Change Our Gut Bacteria in Dangerous Ways. Scientific American. 312 (4).


4. Brown, K. et al. Diet-Induced Dysbiosis of the Intestinal Microbiota and the Effects on Immunity and Disease. Nutrients. 4 (8).


5. Dantzer, R. et al. From inflammation to sickness and depression: when the immune system subjugates the brain. Nature Reviews Neuroscience.

Three Artificial Sweeteners You Should Look Out For

Artificial sweeteners are everywhere, and if you’re like me, you avoid them at all costs. Things like aspartame, sucralose, and saccharin can be found in a variety of processed diet foods; however, even some foods you wouldn’t expect contain these chemicals. Whether you’re knowingly poisoning yourself with these toxins or not, you must know that their presence in your diet, regardless of the amount, have no purpose for your body. Not eliminating them is sometimes the only obstacle many people have toward achieving an ideal state of health.

The Dangers of Artificial Sweeteners

Avoiding artificial sweeteners should already be a no-brainer for you, especially if you are a consistent reader of this blog. Here are the top three sweeteners you should look out for:

1. Why Saccharin Is Not Your Friend

Saccharin was the first artificial sweetener and is still a popular sugar substitute used by many people across the world. Fortunately, it’s not as popular in diet foods as it used to be. You will typically find saccharin in pink packets of artificial sweetener, like Sweet‘N Low. Saccharin can encourage potential allergic reactions in some people, including headaches, breathing difficulties, skin eruptions, and diarrhea. ^[1] There are also studies indicating saccharin in cancer development; although, these studies are dated and do not appear in any relevant, modern literature.

2. The Ever-Popular Sucralose

Sucralose, or commonly known by its trade name “Splenda,” is another commonly-used artificial sweetener. This sweetener, along with aspartame, is often used in diet sodas and other weight loss and diabetic-friendly foods. While it is true that Sucralose starts off with natural sugar as the starting material, it is chlorinated and goes through a very unnatural process during production. Supposedly, Sucralose is not digested and travels through the GI tract unchanged; however, a recent analysis shows the exact opposite. ^[2] There is some research also showing that Sucralose affects glucose control in diabetics and prediabetics, something that nonnutritive sweeteners are designed to avoid. ^[3] Considering that Sucralose was discovered while testing for a new insecticide (at least that’s what’s been widely reported), why would we want to ingest this at any amount?

3. How Aspartame Destroys Brain Cells

Aspartate and glutamate are found in aspartame and behave as neurotransmitters in the brain. Having an excess of these neurotransmitters kills certain neurons by allowing the inundation of calcium. This influx provokes excessive amounts of free radicals which kill the cells. ^[4] The sweetener also contains methanol, which is subsequently metabolized into formaldehyde. There’s a host of other issues with aspartame, and I firmly believe this to be one of the worst artificial sweeteners on the market.

Alternative Natural Sweeteners

I always suggest that everyone, including healthy individuals, remove added sugars from their diet, including added sweeteners. While you can use stevia and other caloric natural sweeteners in moderation, to eliminate our addiction to sweet tastes and promote balance in our diet we must reduce them on all levels. Here are some of the natural sweeteners you should use, but only in moderation:

• Coconut Nectar


• Lo Han Extract


• Stevia


• Organic Raw Honey


• Organic Blackstrap Molasses


• Sugar Alcohols (xylitol, glycerol, sorbitol, maltitol, mannitol, and erythritol)

What sweeteners do you use? Have you had any personal health experiences with artificial sweeteners? Please share with us in the comments!

References:

1. Medicine Net. Saccharin: What are the cons? Medicine Net.


2. Schiffman SS, Rother KI. Sucralose, a synthetic organochlorine sweetener: overview of biological issues. J Toxicol Environ Health B Crit Rev. 2013;16(7):399-451. doi: 10.1080/10937404.2013.842523.


3. Pepino MY, Tiemann CD, Patterson BW, Wice BM, Klein S. Sucralose affects glycemic and hormonal responses to an oral glucose load. Diabetes Care. 2013 Sep;36(9):2530-5. doi: 10.2337/dc12-2221.


4. Iyyaswamy A, Rathinasamy S. Effect of chronic exposure to aspartame on oxidative stress in the brain of albino rats. J Biosci. 2012 Sep;37(4):679-88.