The Study
Personalized microbiome-driven effects of non-nutritive sweeteners on human glucose tolerance.
This study gave different sugar-free sweeteners to 120 healthy people and saw how their bodies reacted. It found that for some people, these sweeteners changed their gut bacteria and made their blood sugar act differently. But it doesn't prove this happens to everyone — just that it might happen in some.
Analysis score
Maximum 90 for a randomized controlled trial.
Where the score came from
Scientists gave people sweeteners like saccharin and sucralose for two weeks and found some made their blood sugar harder to control, and their gut bacteria changed in unique ways.
Where does this study sit?
Reviews of RCTs (Meta-analyses)
Max 100Randomized Trials
Max 90Reviews of Cohort Studies
Max 85Cohort Studies
Max 72Reviews of Case-Control Studies
Max 63Case-Control Studies
Max 58Cross-Sectional & Case Series
Max 50Expert Opinion
Max 544 / 100
Quality score
Participants are randomly assigned to treatment or control groups, minimizing bias. The gold standard for testing whether an intervention causes an effect.
Key takeaways
Summary
Based on the study abstract and findings.
- 1Yes — even at safe doses, these sweeteners may affect how your body handles sugar, and the effect varies by person due to their gut bacteria.
- 2Saccharin and sucralose impaired glucose tolerance; all four sweeteners changed gut bacteria and blood metabolites; mouse transplants copied human responses.
Score breakdown, methodology, conflicts of interest, evidence analysis & raw study data
Publication
Journal
Cell
Year
2022
Authors
Jotham Suez, Yotam Cohen, R. Valdés-Mas, Uria Mor, Mally Dori-Bachash, Sara Federici, N. Zmora, Avner Leshem, Melina Heinemann, Raquel Linevsky, Maya Zur, Rotem Ben-Zeev Brik, Aurélie Bukimer, Shimrit Eliyahu-Miller, A. Metz, R. Fischbein, O.O. Sharov, S. Malitsky, M. Itkin, Noa Stettner, A. Harmelin, H. Shapiro, C. Stein-Thoeringer, E. Segal, E. Elinav
Related Content
Claims (4)
Consuming non-nutritive sweeteners repeatedly without eating calories reduces the body's ability to regulate blood sugar and respond to metabolic signals.
When mice raised without microbes receive gut bacteria from humans who react strongly to artificial sweeteners, the mice show the same changes in blood sugar levels as those humans.
Consuming saccharin and sucralose for two weeks at doses below safety limits reduces glucose tolerance in healthy adults and changes the composition of gut and oral bacteria and blood metabolites.
Consuming saccharin, sucralose, aspartame, or stevia for two weeks at typical low doses changes the bacteria in the gut and mouth and alters the profile of metabolites in the blood, with each sweetener producing a unique pattern.
Not medical advice. For informational purposes only. Always consult a qualified healthcare professional before making health decisions.