Hospitals, Pharma

Too bad: Diet sodas may give you diabetes – not save you from it

A new study shows that artificial sweeteners may make it harder for your body to process sugar, which increases your chances of pre-diabetes and diabetes.

You know those times when a friend or colleague orders a Whopper and a diet soda? And you nudge him a little and say, “Good thing you got a diet, right?” A new study shows that this is the wrong nutritional trade off.

Researchers report that artificial sweeteners mess up your gut bacteria and in turn your body’s ability to manage sugar. So instead of drinking diet sodas to avoid sugar, you may be making it harder for your body to process sugar, increasing your chances of getting diabetes.

Here is why. The team studied non-caloric artificial sweeteners and the related effect on gut bacteria.

Most NAS pass through the human gastrointestinal tract without being digested by the host and thus directly encounter the intestinal microbiota, which plays central roles in regulating multiple physiological processes. Microbiota composition and function are modulated by diet in the healthy/lean state as well as in obesity and diabetes mellitus, and in turn microbiota alterations have been associated with propensity to metabolic syndrome. Here, we study NAS-mediated modulation of microbiota composition and function, and the resultant effects on host glucose metabolism.

The results of the study connect drinking soda with microbial imbalance (dysbiosis) and metabolic syndrome – which is a big red flag that diabetes is coming next. Why is it bad to make your gut bacteria angry? From Wikipedia:

Dysbiosis is most commonly reported as a condition in the digestive tract. It has been associated with … inflammatory bowel disease, chronic fatigue syndrome, obesity, cancer and colitis.

Microbial colonies found on or in the body are normally benign or beneficial. These beneficial and appropriately sized microbial colonies carry out a series of helpful and necessary functions, such as aiding in digestion. They also protect the body from the penetration of pathogenic microbes. These beneficial microbial colonies compete with each other for space and resources and outnumber human cells by a factor 10:1.

Below is the abstract from Nature for everyone who doesn’t need the translation:

Non-caloric artificial sweeteners (NAS) are among the most widely used food additives worldwide, regularly consumed by lean and obese individuals alike. NAS consumption is considered safe and beneficial owing to their low caloric content, yet supporting scientific data remain sparse and controversial. Here we demonstrate that consumption of commonly used NAS formulations drives the development of glucose intolerance through induction of compositional and functional alterations to the intestinal microbiota. These NAS-mediated deleterious metabolic effects are abrogated by antibiotic treatment, and are fully transferrable to germ-free mice upon faecal transplantation of microbiota configurations from NAS-consuming mice, or of microbiota anaerobically incubated in the presence of NAS. We identify NAS-altered microbial metabolic pathways that are linked to host susceptibility to metabolic disease, and demonstrate similar NAS-induced dysbiosis and glucose intolerance in healthy human subjects. Collectively, our results link NAS consumption, dysbiosis and metabolic abnormalities, thereby calling for a reassessment of massive NAS usage.

You can rent a copy of the study for 48 hours for $3.99 or buy the PDF for #32.

H/T to Meghana Keshavan who retweeted Dr. Eric Topol’s link to the article.

Veronica Combs

Veronica is an independent journalist and communications strategist. For more than 10 years, she has covered health and healthcare with a focus on innovation and patient engagement. Most recently she managed strategic partnerships and communications for AIR Louisville, a digital health project focused on asthma. The team recruited 7 employer partners, enrolled 1,100 participants and collected more than 250,000 data points about rescue inhaler use. Veronica has worked for startups for almost 20 years doing everything from launching blogs, newsletters and patient communities to recruiting speakers, moderating panel conversations and developing new products. You can reach her on Twitter @vmcombs.

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