Artificial sweeteners raise blood sugar levels

Two artificial sweeteners, saccharin and sucralose, may hinder the body's ability to regulate blood sugar levels after eating, possibly because the sweeteners affect gut microbes, American scientists wrote in the latest issue of the journal Cell.

In the new study, Jottan Suez and colleagues at Johns Hopkins University tested the effects of four sugar substitutes on blood sugar in 120 Israeli adults with no underlying medical conditions

Throughout the study, all participants wore a continuous glucose monitor and completed a glucose tolerance test at nine time points to measure how effectively the body was controlling blood sugar levels after ingesting glucose

The researchers found that those who consumed saccharin and sucralose had significantly higher blood sugars after a glucose tolerance test, while the other groups remained stable or even dropped slightly, suggesting that it wasn't the glucose in the sweetener packet that raised blood sugar.

Analysis of the participants' daily stool and saliva samples showed that all 4 sweeteners significantly altered the amount, activity and type of bacteria in the gut and mouth

The research team also transplanted fecal samples from people who consumed saccharin, sucralose, glucose, and no supplements into the digestive tracts of mice, and found that feces transplanted from the saccharin and sucralose groups led to increased postprandial blood sugar in the mice

This suggests that microbial changes are responsible for this result, Suez said.