Do fake sugars affect your heart?
Artificial Sweeteners and Cardiovascular Disease: Systematic Review and Meta-analysis.
Not medical advice. For informational purposes only. Always consult a healthcare professional. Terms
Surprising Findings
Higher sweetener biomarkers in blood are linked to heart disease, but dietary intake isn’t.
Most people assume that if something is harmful, it’s because of how much you eat—but here, self-reported consumption doesn’t match the biological signal.
Practical Takeaways
Be mindful of processed foods with artificial sweeteners, especially if you're using them heavily to manage weight or blood sugar.
Not medical advice. For informational purposes only. Always consult a healthcare professional. Terms
Surprising Findings
Higher sweetener biomarkers in blood are linked to heart disease, but dietary intake isn’t.
Most people assume that if something is harmful, it’s because of how much you eat—but here, self-reported consumption doesn’t match the biological signal.
Practical Takeaways
Be mindful of processed foods with artificial sweeteners, especially if you're using them heavily to manage weight or blood sugar.
Publication
Journal
Nutrition reviews
Year
2026
Authors
Sofía Gimeno-Ruiz, Carolina Torrijo-Belanche, A. Muñoz-Cabrejas, M. Morales-Suarez-Varela, Pilar Guallar-Castillón, B. Moreno-Franco
Related Content
Claims (6)
Some artificial sweeteners with no calories might raise your chances of having a heart attack.
We're not really sure if artificial sweeteners affect heart health because most studies only looked at certain foods, not overall intake, and there just aren't enough studies to be confident.
Eating artificial sweeteners doesn't show a clear link to heart‑related deaths or heart problems, according to studies that looked at what adults eat.
Studies looking at sugar-related substances in the blood and heart problems don’t agree very well with each other — the results vary a lot, possibly because of different people, methods, or hidden factors.
Some researchers think that studies showing no link between sugar-related compounds in blood and heart problems might be missing from the research — especially smaller ones — which could skew what we think is true.