Artificial sweeteners are everywhere. They hide in cereal, salad dressing – even in health foods. But are they really a guilt-free way to satisfy your sweet tooth? Or is it naive to think that – because they’re zero calorie – they’re free of consequence?

New research shows there is a consequence. And it could be massive. Artificial sweeteners may disrupt the delicate balance of bacteria that live in your gut. You could see ripple effects like chronic disease, weight gain and a weakened ability to process real sugar.

Today’s guest is at the forefront of this research. For the last decade, Dr Eran Elinav led breakthroughs on the science behind popular sweeteners. He leads The Institute for Microbiome Research at the Weizmann Institute of Science. He’s published over 100 publications in leading scientific journals. And his lab is on the cutting-edge of gut microbiome research. 

We’re also joined today by Tim Spector. Tim is one of the world’s top 100 most-cited scientists, a professor of epidemiology, and my scientific Co-Founder at ZOE. 

You’ll finish today’s episode knowing what's in your sweetener, how it’s affecting you, and where to turn to satisfy your sweet tooth.   

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Timecodes:

00:00 The truth about artificial sweeteners

01:49 Quick fire questions

04:03 Tim's self-experiment

07:40 What is an artificial sweetener?

09:47 Examples of popular sweeteners

10:45 Detrimental effects of sugar on your health

13:11 Sugar's impact on gut health

16:30 Which factors affect the gut microbiome?

18:44 Full Fat Coke vs Diet Coke

21:05 Do diet drinks help weight loss?

26:00 Calorie restriction diets

28:01 Sweeteners and diabetes risk

35:50 Why your microbiome is a chemical factory

42:15 Not all sweeteners are created equal

49:00 The WHO's view on sweeteners

52:30 Practical advice on chemicals in food

55:05 How to transition off sweet drinks

📚Books by our ZOE Scientists

The Food For Life Cookbook

Every Body Should Know This by Dr Federica Amati

Food For Life by Prof. Tim Spector

Free resources from ZOE

Live Healthier: Top 10 Tips From ZOE Science & Nutrition

Gut Guide - For a Healthier Microbiome in Weeks 

Mentioned in today's episode

Artificial sweeteners induce glucose intolerance by altering the gut microbiota (2023), published in Nature

Personalized microbiome-driven effects of non-nutritive sweeteners on human glucose tolerance (2022), published in Cell

Acute and two-week effects of neotame, stevia rebaudioside M and sucrose-sweetened biscuits on postprandial appetite and endocrine response in adults with overweight/obesity-a randomised crossover trial from the SWEET consortium (2024), published in EBioMedicine

The contentious relationship artificial sweeteners and cardiovascular health (2023), published in The Egyptian Journal of Internal Medicine

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Episode transcripts are available here.