Is 0 sugar healthy? Artificial sweeteners affect intestinal flora and change blood sugar

Artificial sweeteners (sugar substitutes), which have long been considered healthy and widely used, are not inert in the human body. They can significantly affect the human intestinal microorganisms and thus change the human blood sugar levels.

The research team carefully screened more than 1,300 people who strictly avoided using artificial sweeteners in their daily lives, and identified 120 of them to participate in follow-up experiments.

The participants were divided into six groups:

There were two control groups and four experimental groups. The four experimental groups consumed saccharin, sucralose, stevia and aspartame respectively.

These amounts are below the FDA's recommended daily intake.

The two control groups took in the same amount of glucose or no additional glucose.

In participants who consumed artificial sweeteners, very significant changes in the composition and function of their gut microbiota, as well as in the molecules secreted into the peripheral blood, were readily observed.

This seems to indicate that the gut microbes in the human body are quite sensitive to each of these sweeteners. Among these artificial sweeteners, saccharin and sucralose can more significantly affect glucose tolerance in healthy adults. Moreover, changes in the gut microbiome are highly correlated with changes in people's blood sugar response.

All participants who consumed artificial sweeteners showed very similar changes in blood sugar levels when their gut microbiomes were transplanted into germ-free mice, while the gut microbiomes of the control group participants showed no changes.

These results suggest that microbiome changes in response to artificial sweetener consumption in humans may induce glycemic changes in a highly personalized manner.

This research suggests that artificial sweeteners are not as inert as previously thought.

However, long-term studies are needed to determine whether these changes caused by artificial sweeteners lead to clinical health effects.

Real sugar is bad, fake sugar is even worse, and drinking only water seems to be the best solution.