Artificial Sweeteners: Are They Safe?
How artificial sweeteners impact the microbiome.
Artificial sweeteners have become a popular additive to reduce the calories, sugar, and carbohydrates in foods and beverages.
While this seems great on the surface, an important question to ask is: how are they really impacting our health?
Let's take a closer look at artificial sweeteners.
What Are Artificial Sweeteners?
Artificial sweeteners are synthetic, noncaloric sweeteners made from chemicals.
They were originally created to help with weight loss, blood sugar control, and cavity prevention. However, research is now showing that they may actually increase appetite and cravings, leading to an increased risk of weight gain in the long-run.
In addition, while these noncaloric sweeteners have no carbs or calories and should theoretically have no effect on blood sugars, there's now research showing that consumption of artificial sweeteners actually impairs blood glucose tolerance by altering the microbiome. This results in elevated blood glucose levels.
This was demonstrated in an article published in the journal Nature titled Artificial sweeteners induce glucose intolerance by altering the gut microbiota.
They concluded in this article that consumption of noncaloric sweeteners is linked to gut dysbiosis and metabolic abnormalities, thereby calling for a reassessment of usage.
Another study published in the journal Cell observed the effects of noncaloric sweeteners on glucose tolerance and the microbiome in 120 volunteers. The participants in the study were divided into 6 groups: four groups receiving noncaloric sweeteners (including either aspartame, saccharin, sucralose, or stevia), a fifth group received glucose, and the sixth group received no intervention.