Sweeteners and Intestinal Flora: They Can Make You Severely Sick

New study
Soft drinks and yogurt: Sweeteners are bad for your gut flora — and can make you seriously ill

It is now known that excessive consumption of sugar can lead to obesity and diabetes. So what better way to use an artificial sweetener in your coffee, soft drinks and diet yogurt? Even better, because common sweeteners like aspartame, saccharin, and sucralose have long been suspected of causing intestinal damage. As early as 2014, Israeli scientists discovered that sweeteners disrupt the intestinal flora and glucose metabolism. Until then, sweeteners were assumed to be safe because they would not be absorbed by the intestine.

Another study now shows just the opposite. Scientists at Anglia Ruskin University in Cambridge have discovered that sweeteners such as aspartame, saccharin and sucralose can turn healthy gut bacteria into pathogenic microbes.

Just two cans of Coca-Cola can damage the intestinal flora

The study, published in the “International Journal of Molecular Sciences,” shows the harmful effects that sweeteners can have. Scientists have proven that saccharin, sucralose and aspartame can transform two types of intestinal bacteria into harmful intestinal populations. These are Escherichia coli and Enterococcus faecalis. These are two types of pathogenic bacteria that stick to Caco-2 cells.

These bacteria are usually harmless, but if they leave the intestines it can be dangerous. Sweeteners help these bacteria penetrate the intestinal wall. The E. faecalis bacteria can then collect in the liver, spleen, and kidneys and cause a number of infections. Study director and biomedical scientist Dr. “These changes can cause intestinal bacteria to enter our bloodstream and damage our intestines, which at worst leads to infection, sepsis, and failure of many organs,” Havovi Schecher warned in a letter. Two cans of Coca-Cola with sweetener are enough to have a permanent negative effect on the intestinal flora.

dsw