I just found out that diet soda actually is terrible for you. I’ve been drinking a ton of it. And that it would probably be better to just drink a regular soda. Can someone please breakdown what it does to to microbiome. And also include if any damage done will repair one you’ve stopped drinking diet soda.
Please feel free to add anything else you like to say.
In: Biology
So your question is likely based in someone telling you incorrect info or at least making giant leaps from current research. Some artificial sweeteners likely affect the microbiome some with some ok evidence in mice data. Essentially this boils down to some bacteria can use the artificial sweeteners for food and others can’t leading to survival of more of those types of bacteria. But we don’t know nearly enough to be sure we consume enough to have that effect and we can only postulate what that ultimate change in the microbiome would lead to and the downstream health effects. We do know diet sodas fool your gut a bit and mess with insulin sensitivity and your hunger circuit, and it is very acidic (just like normal soda) which is not ideal for teeth and some people’s stomach. But the effects are even worse for normal soda.
On the other hand, normal soda has so much sugar that drinking a lot of it just floods you with caloric abundance and will directly cause obesity in addition to not being filling, allowing you to consume even more calories later. Obviously the end result of obesity and metabolic syndrome and eventually type II diabetes is bad.
TL;DR: Water is better than any soda. Based on all current evidence, diet soda with artificial sweeteners is better than normal soda if you drink a lot because the caloric effects of real sugar are obvious and bad. Neither diet nor regular is likely bad in moderation.
Very good inquiry and I appreciate that you care enough to look into this.
Generally with artificial sweeteners, some people believe that they might increase appetite and promote weight gain. The idea is that artificial sweeteners may be unable to activate the food reward pathway needed to make you feel satisfied after you eat. Given that they taste sweet but lack the calories found in other sweet-tasting foods, they’re thought to confuse the brain into still feeling hungry. Additionally, some scientists think you’d need to eat more of an artificially sweetened food, compared with the sugar-sweetened version, to feel full. It’s even been suggested that sweeteners may cause cravings for sugary foods.
**With The Microbiome**
In one study, the artificial sweetener saccharin disrupted gut bacteria balance in four out of seven healthy participants who were not used to consuming them. And with gut health, the four “responders” also showed poorer blood sugar control after as few as 5 days after consuming the artificial sweetener. What’s more, when gut bacteria from these people were transferred into mice, the animals also developed poor blood sugar control. On the other hand, the mice implanted with the gut bacteria from “non-responders” had no changes in their ability to control blood sugar levels^([1]). Although interesting, more studies are needed before strong conclusions can be made.
Basically, while sugar isn’t the best, artificial sweeteners aren’t the best. As long as you watch out for yourself anything in moderation is key. There’s so much research happening and much unknown that it’s hard to give a simple answer.
1: [Artificial sweeteners induce glucose intolerance by altering the gut microbiota](https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/25231862/)- National Center for Biotechnology, National Library of Medicine |
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