Artificial sweeteners are everywhere. They hide in cereal, salad dressing – even in health foods. But are they really a guilt-free way to satisfy your sweet tooth? Or is it naive to think that – because they’re zero calorie – they’re free of consequence?
New research shows there is a consequence. And it could be massive. Artificial sweeteners may disrupt the delicate balance of bacteria that live in your gut. You could see ripple effects like chronic disease, weight gain and a weakened ability to process real sugar.
Today’s guest is at the forefront of this research. For the last decade, Dr Eran Elinav led breakthroughs on the science behind popular sweeteners. He leads The Institute for Microbiome Research at the Weizmann Institute of Science. He’s published over 100 publications in leading scientific journals. And his lab is on the cutting-edge of gut microbiome research.
We’re also joined today by Tim Spector. Tim is one of the world’s top 100 most-cited scientists, a professor of epidemiology, and my scientific Co-Founder at ZOE.
You’ll finish today’s episode knowing what's in your sweetener, how it’s affecting you, and where to turn to satisfy your sweet tooth.
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Timecodes:
00:00 The truth about artificial sweeteners
01:49 Quick fire questions
04:03 Tim's self-experiment
07:40 What is an artificial sweetener?
09:47 Examples of popular sweeteners
10:45 Detrimental effects of sugar on your health
13:11 Sugar's impact on gut health
16:30 Which factors affect the gut microbiome?
18:44 Full Fat Coke vs Diet Coke
21:05 Do diet drinks help weight loss?
26:00 Calorie restriction diets
28:01 Sweeteners and diabetes risk
35:50 Why your microbiome is a chemical factory
42:15 Not all sweeteners are created equal
49:00 The WHO's view on sweeteners
52:30 Practical advice on chemicals in food
55:05 How to transition off sweet drinks
📚Books by our ZOE Scientists
The Food For Life Cookbook
Every Body Should Know This by Dr Federica Amati
Food For Life by Prof. Tim Spector
Free resources from ZOE
Live Healthier: Top 10 Tips From ZOE Science & Nutrition
Gut Guide - For a Healthier Microbiome in Weeks
Mentioned in today's episode
Artificial sweeteners induce glucose intolerance by altering the gut microbiota (2023), published in Nature
Personalized microbiome-driven effects of non-nutritive sweeteners on human glucose tolerance (2022), published in Cell
Acute and two-week effects of neotame, stevia rebaudioside M and sucrose-sweetened biscuits on postprandial appetite and endocrine response in adults with overweight/obesity-a randomised crossover trial from the SWEET consortium (2024), published in EBioMedicine
The contentious relationship artificial sweeteners and cardiovascular health (2023), published in The Egyptian Journal of Internal Medicine
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Episode transcripts are available here.