Artificial Sweeteners Cause Obesity, Diabetes and inflammation in the Gut

It has become a common and accepted belief that artificial sweeteners assist in the “battle” of losing weight and in eliminating or at least reducing diabetes. It has been the general assumption for many years that because these sweeteners do not contain natural sugar, then consumers avoiding sugar, especially diabetics, could enjoy all the regular foods and drinks that non-diabetic people enjoy with no limitations or harm. However, as years went by, it became apparent to both doctors and consumers that the state of diabetes and obesity among those using artificial sweeteners not only did not improve, but actually worsened. The blood sugar levels went up and people gained more weight.

A Weizmann Institute scientific research, published in the scientific magazine Nature, reveals that “diet” foods and drinks containing sugar substitutes in fact increase the likelihood of gaining weight and even increase the risk of an onset of diabetes even in non-diabetic people (1). How come?

How do Artificial Sweeteners Cause Diabetes?
For many years, dieticians have been preaching that food containing elements which slow down the digestive process, such as nutritional fibers, brown rice, whole wheat flour, legumes, etc., are “health” foods, especially recommended to diabetics. There is no greater mistake than this. The more complex the food molecule is, and the longer and more complicated its digestion last, the more insulin secretion it requires, resulting in a rise in blood sugar levels. Moreover, the already much compromised pancreas needs to work harder, its powers get depleted further and its function of controlling and regulating the sugar metabolism deteriorates further.

Artificial sweeteners (such as Sweet ‘N Low, aspartame, sucralose/splenda, cyclamate, sorbitol, maltodextrin, etc.) are not natural, but a product of chemical synthesis in a lab. The digestive system is meant to break down food derived from nature, and it is not designed to cope with materials originating from a lab synthesis. The digestive system is especially capable of easily processing natural simple molecules of glucose (monosaccharide) and fructose (type of sugar found in fruits). The reason is that these molecules, being so simple and basic, require much less resources from the body when being processed by it and the pancreas needs hardly to secrete much insulin, as it does with the artificial sweeteners. It is much more strenuous for the system to try and dismantle the artificial sweeteners, let alone transforming them into a good, reliable and practical source of energy to replace natural glucose and fructose. For this reason, the categorical popular recommendation of dieticians for diabetics to avoid fruit and natural cane sugar or molasses, replacing them with artificial sweeteners, is a very faulty advice. Even natural white sugar (such as cane sugar or molasses) is less harmful than the artificial sweeteners. For example, coke is a bad drink for everyone; but it is far more preferable (even for diabetics) to consume regular sugary coke than “zero” and all kinds of “diet” or “sugar-free” drinks sweetened with any of the artificial sweeteners.

The difficulty in which the digestive system tries to break down molecules of artificial sweeteners harms the body in several ways, as follows.

The body’s attempt to digest artificial sweeteners causes a rise on blood sugar levels:
In order for the system to try and break down artificial sweeteners’ molecules, the pancreas has to work harder and secret more insulin, and this is harsh for the body, especially regarding diabetics.
Furthermore, the research of Weizmann Institute referred to above (1), proves in a clear and conclusive way that the more we use artificial sweeteners, the more we stimulate the cells’ walls flooding it with a huge amount of sugar. Eventually this causes cells’ insensitivity to glucose, which is the definition of diabetes type 2. In the research it was noted that many of the participants started developing cell insensitivity to glucose already one week after starting to use artificial sweeteners. Dr. Elinav from the immunology department in the Weizmann Institute, one of the research leaders, concluded that “the extensive usage of artificial sweeteners in drinks and food could cause obesity and even develop diabetes” (1).

As opposed to the molecules of the artificial sweeteners produced in the lab, natural sugar molecules in fruits and most of the vegetables are either a monosaccharide (which is the purest and simplest form of glucose) or a disaccharide easily broken down by the digestive system into fructose and glucose. The simpler the molecule is by being closer to a monosaccharide glucose (e.g., in grapes and watermelon), the quicker it can be broken down by the digestive system – therefore, better and easier for digestion and especially beneficial to diabetics. Out of the natural sugars constituting a problem for diabetics, there are the polysaccharides including starch, which are complicated and take much longer to digest. The irony is that while dieticians advise diabetics to avoid simple natural glucose and fruits, they highly recommend foods containing complicated polysaccharides, such as in legumes and foods laden with bran and fibers.

Artificial Sweeteners disrupt the natural balance in the body
The said research (1) also revealed more reasons for the tendency to develop diabetes and gain weight when using artificial sweeteners: Not only do artificial sweeteners cause the digestion to be cumbersome and sluggish, but actually disrupt the proper digestion process.

The bacteria residing in the gut (also referred to as “the gut flora”) are a vital factor, without which the digestion and breaking down process cannot proceed. The gut flora practically breaks down the food into its basic nutrients, ready to be absorbed. There are two main groups of “gut flora” performing the functions of fermentation and decomposition. These two groups exist in about the same amount and they operate in synergy. By evolution of the human body during hundreds of thousands of years, the gut flora has bedome used to and know how to “work” with nature’s products, familiar to it. As opposed to that, artificial sweeteners are a product of lab synthesis developed during just the recent decades. The gut flora does not identify the artificial sweeteners as “food”, and is not equipped biologically to break them down and absorb their molecules into the body. These artificial sweeteners are treated by the system as “foreign substances” to be rid of by the body as soon as possible. The result is that the interaction between the gut flora and the artificial sweeteners disrupts the usual pathways of the digestive process (1). Experiments included in the research have shown that the exposure of the gut flora to the artificial sweeteners results in significant changes in the amount and balance of the gut flora and its function, These changes, in turn, initiate known metabolic pathological processes leading to obesity, diabetes and metabolic syndrome in both humans and animals. An imbalanced and damaged gut flora is one of the major causes of inflammatory diseases of the digestive tract – e.g., colitis, Crohn’s disease, diverticulitis, chronic diarrhea and even rheumatic diseases, dysfunction of the immune system and many more (2).

Another joint research done in Ben Gurion university together with Nanyang Technological University of Singapore found that consuming drinks containing artificial sweeteners has a negative effect on a large group of the gut flora, preventing it from functioning properly (3). The researchers used 6 types of common artificial sweeteners approved by the FDA. The conclusion was that it takes only two cups a day of soft drink or coffee sweetened by any of these substances to prevent the gut flora from getting properly multiplied, therefore, significantly disrupting the digestion process. The leaders of this research too recommend to avoid using artificial sweeteners.

I would like to point that although this article focuses on drinks sweetened by artificial sweeteners, all that is said applies in the same way on “diet” foods sweetened by artificial sweeteners, the majority of which are actually designated to diabetics – e.g., “diet” cakes, “diet” biscuits, “diet” deserts etc. Anyone wishing to lose their weight or lower their blood sugar levels would do better to stay away from these “diet” products.

These two researches join previous studies proving the connection between the usage of artificial sweeteners and high Bp, diabetes, obesity and stroke (3). For instance, a study published in the scientific monthly magazine STROKE found that the risk of a stroke or dementia is almost 3 times higher among those who consumed “diet” drinks on a daily basis compared to those who sweetened their drinks with regular sugar (4). Furthermore, there is a direct link between the gut flora and the function of the brain, and damage to the gut flora can lead to ADD and even severe degenerated diseases, such as Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s (5).

A study published in the prestige medical magazine JAMA tracked the pathological neurological pathway initiated by taking an artificial sweetener, causing obesity, especially in women. The same pathological neurological process did not occur in those consuming regular natural disaccharide (6).

A 2004 study published in the American magazine for Clinical Nutrition provided further explanation to the rise in weight and sugar levels: unlike natural sugar, the most prevalent artificial sweetener used in the food industry (HFCS) does not stimulate the pancreas to secrete more insulin and does not stimulate the production and secretion of the hormone leptin from the brain. Both insulin and leptin bring about the sensation of satiation, which is an important factor in properly regulating food consumption and maintaining proper weight. Therefore, a high intake of products sweetened with HFCS causes weight gain and over-consumption of foods and drinks, resulting in elevated sugar levels (7). A list of studies established the connection between HFCS and obesity, diabetes and liver disease (8).

Artificial Sweeteners cause harm to major bodily organs
Consuming artificial sweeteners not only harms the gut flora, but it also causes damage to other vital organs. Any substance that the body has difficulty in breaking down efficiently, arrives eventually to the liver, whose one of its main functions is to get rid of any material useless to the body. As typical to our modern life, the liver is usually already over-loaded with all kinds of poisons to be eliminated from the body, weakening liver function anyway. A weakened liver is already one of the most common pathological base causes of obesity and diabetes. Now, the liver has to suffer further pressure by having also to eliminate man-made synthesized molecules, namely artificial sweeteners.

In the majority of the cases, the liver is unable to completely break down these artificial molecules. This in turn puts more pressure on the kidneys, trying to complete the process of elimination by the disposal of useless waste out of the body. The higher the consumption of artificial sweeteners is, the more the kidneys become over-burdened, eventually weakening too. This in turn leads to more pathologies tightly connected to diabetes, such as high Bp and skin disorders.

I would like to end the article with a real-life story, summarizing it in a vivid way. At the request of my mother, my father went to the supermarket for their weekly shopping. When he returned, my mother complained: “And what about the diet coke, the diet cookies, Sweet N’ Low, diet bread and the decaffeinated coffee? Have you forgotten these?” My father answered: “To tell you the truth, I watched the customers buying the same stuff you were asking for, and they all looked fat and sickly. So, I decided I am not going to buy them”….

Wishing everyone good health,

Oren Kaholi, Dr. of Natural Health Science (PhD. DNHSc)

Oren Kaholi, Dr. of Natural Health Science (PhD. DNHSc) specializes in the unique acupuncture system of Single Needle Technique (SNT) and Chinese medicinal herbs pharmacology. Based on his professional training and vast clinical experience, Dr. Kaholi developed a precise holistic method of diagnosis, combining many diagnostic tools. Dr. Kaholi’s diagnostic method enables him to offer efficient personalized natural treatment plans for each of his patients with an average rate of success exceeding 95%. Dr. Kaholi has been treating a vast range of illnesses, acute and chronic, for over a decade both in Israel (his home base) and all over the world. Dr. Kaholi lectures on maintaining a healthy lifestyle and teaches his system.