Sweeteners upset the gut

More than 2000 years ago, Hippocrates, the father of Western medicine, noted that all diseases originate in the gut. Today, numerous studies have confirmed the concept that gut health is the cornerstone of overall health. However, nearly half of Finns suffer from various stomach and intestinal problems. Occasional heartburn or random digestive issues may not yet be a serious concern, but more chronic bowel diseases can cause, for example, impaired nutrient absorption, directly affecting energy levels and quality of life. It is said that you are what you eat and absorb.

According to the U.S. National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (NIDDK), digestive problems are primarily caused by bacteria, parasites, weakened gut flora, digestive diseases, and a poor diet. The prevailing lifestyle in Western countries, which includes processed foods, frequent antibiotic use, and irregular eating and snacking, increasingly poses challenges to healthy stomach function.

So how can we better take care of the well-being of our stomach, and thus our overall health?

Only 10% of the body's cells originate from humans; the remaining 90% consist of bacteria, fungi, and microorganism cells living in the body. The gut is estimated to contain about 500–1000 different species of bacteria, weighing a total of about one and a half kilograms. The most common are Bacteroides, Clostridium, Fusobacterium, Bifidobacterium, and Lactobacillus. These so-called good bacteria are essential for immunity, but their balance is constantly under threat. It has been noted, among other things, that just one course of antibiotics destroys as much as 30 percent of the entire gut bacterial flora and can disrupt the gut bacterial balance for up to two years. In addition to antibiotics, diet also matters, of course: certain foods and ingredients, such as sugar, sweets, pastries, alcohol, and dairy products, feed harmful bacteria in the body and help create a favorable environment for intestinal parasites to thrive. The solution lies in maintaining a healthy bacterial balance and a clean, gut-friendly diet.

 

Sweeteners in the body

Sugar is essential for the body's function, as the brain, among other things, needs glucose to function. Nevertheless, sugar has long had a bad reputation — everyone knows that when used excessively, it can damage teeth, be stored as fat, and become addictive. Artificial sweeteners at least partially eliminated these problems: one could now drink light soda with a clearer conscience, because sweeteners ensured that they did not accumulate calories or cavities.

The first artificial sweetener was discovered as early as 1879 when researchers Ira Remsen and Constantin Fahlberg accidentally noted the sweetness of saccharin after eating with poorly washed hands. Years later in 1901, saccharin became Monsanto's first product. Today, there are as many as 18 EU-approved artificial sweeteners, and their use extends from yogurts to low-calorie soft drinks and dietary supplements. Perhaps you have sometimes noticed the additive labels E951, E954, or E955 on the packaging. These are more commonly known in everyday language as aspartame, saccharin, and sucralose. Sweeteners are not absorbed by the body and do not contain energy, but they are still hundreds of times sweeter than regular sugar; for example, sucralose is about 500–600 times sweeter than table sugar.

At a quick glance, one might think that sweeteners are an excellent solution for everyone: there is no need to give up treats, and empty carbohydrates can finally be said goodbye to! Especially for those struggling with diabetes or overweight, sweeteners seemed to offer a viable alternative.

Since sweeteners have been in use for quite some time (aspartame became available to consumers in 1974 and sucralose in 1991), some studies have been conducted on their safety and long-term effects. Some studies strongly suggest that in small amounts, sweeteners are harmless to humans. However, many other studies have revealed a host of different health risks. For example, saccharin use has been found to increase the risk of bladder cancer, and aspartame has been shown to affect the nervous system and serotonin levels, predisposing to depression. (1, 2) Sucralose has also been found to cause unpleasant side effects such as bloating, diarrhea, and nausea. This is because when sucralose comes into contact with gut bacteria, nitrogen gas is produced in the body. Most recently, a 2015 Israeli study found that the gut flora of people who consumed artificial sweeteners was different from those who did not. (3) This claim is also supported by Professor and World Health Organization (WHO) advisor Juhana E. Idänpään-Heikkilä, who further emphasizes in his Helsingin Sanomat editorial that sweeteners can, on the contrary, even cause weight gain:

“According to recent studies, these substances pass through the human gastrointestinal tract and the body's digestion almost unchanged. However, on their way, they modify the gut's microbial flora, as a result of which the bacterial structure becomes more sensitive to conventional sugars. Losing weight by using massive amounts of artificial sweeteners and avoiding sugar then leads to weight gain.” (4)

The latest research results are therefore significant, as we noted earlier, gut bacteria play a crucial role in our overall health.

What does this information mean for athletes and the supplements they use?

Older readers will surely remember how, just a few years ago, the range of supplements was considerably narrower. Whey and malt were mixed in a shaker, a little cocoa powder was added for flavor, and then it was hoped that the drink would not come back up the same way it went down. Nowadays, supplements contain more colorants, sweeteners, and preservatives than one can keep track of, and most of them are artificial.

For comparison, check what sweeteners are in your post-workout drink or protein powder at home. It may be that the package insert does not even state the amounts of sweeteners. How, then, do you know how much sucralose, for example, is in a supplement? As a rule of thumb, taste can be a good indicator. A product that tastes artificially sweet or industrial likely contains too many sweeteners, as their only function is to mask a bad taste.

 

Restoring balance to the stomach

For the gut to function optimally, it is paramount to avoid products that weaken the stomach's healthy bacterial flora. Those struggling with digestion should consider a temporary break from all additive-containing products while their body returns to normal. All artificial sweeteners should be removed from the diet and preferably replaced with natural sweeteners such as honey or stevia. It would be good to add more slowly absorbed fibers to the diet, such as whole grains, lentils, beans, quinoa, buckwheat, millet, amaranth, oats, and asparagus; these effectively boost the natural bacterial flora by acting as prebiotics, i.e., food for gut microbes. In addition, a strong and diverse probiotic supplement should be introduced to maintain the stomach's bacterial balance. Once the gut is functioning again, supplements can gradually be reintroduced, always noting what works for your body and what doesn't.

Have a good week, everyone!


1. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/8373935
2. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC548217/
3. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4615743/
4. https://www.hs.fi/paakirjoitukset/art-2000002772089.html