Sweeteners vs Blood Sugar and Microbiome

Non-nutritive sweeteners and their effect on human glucose tolerance

This is a quick one. But I’m always interested in the latest research on how blood sugar is affected by various environmental factors, so here it is! A recent study has looked at the effects of non-nutritive sweeteners like saccharin, aspartame, sucralose and stevia on the glycemic response (or how they affect blood sugar response to food). And also looked at how they might be associated with microbial changes from the mouth to the ‘exit portal’. The trials were carried out on 120 healthy adults and showed that after 2 weeks of intake of saccharin or sucralose there was a relatively large increase in blood sugar in response to ingested food (any food), whereas with aspartame and stevia, there was no observed increase in blood sugar levels above the controls they used. This means it might be wise to be careful with foods made with sucralose such as Splenda, maple syrup alternatives, some chewing gums and many fitness and low-carb snack products and also saccharin-containing products which fortunately aren’t common these days.

Interestingly, they found that ALL 4 sweetener types, including stevia and aspartame, led to significant changes in the balance of bacteria in the study subject’s microbiome. Specifically, the oral microbiome and in their stools, meaning what had been in the mouths and digestive systems of the subjects. Now, they didn’t go into detail on the nature of the imbalance, but it nonetheless raises an important question. Are these changes for better or worse? Well, in light of the fact processed foods usually lead to negative microbiome changes, I’d bet it’s NOT going to be for the better! And yet, It’s important to point out this is ONLY ONE study, but it’s pretty high quality (it is published in ‘Cell’ magazine which is a high-impact publication - it’d be subject to a lot of scrutiny) and I DON’T LIKE the effects they’re pointing to!

Research Sources:

Suez, Jotham, Yotam Cohen, Rafael Valdés-Mas, Uria Mor, Mally Dori-Bachash, Sara Federici, Niv Zmora et al. "Personalized microbiome-driven effects of non-nutritive sweeteners on human glucose tolerance." Cell 185, no. 18 (2022): 3307-3328.