Is Stevia Harmful For My Gut Health?
Sugar has gotten quite the bad rap in recent years, it’s become one of the most polarizing ingredients in the health and wellness world. It seems like time and again different foods become the “worst” for you, remember reading “One egg is just as bad as five cigarettes a day.” HUH? In recent years the culprit has been carbs, before that it was fats. Turns out cutting out entire macronutrients isn’t great for your body, and I assume forgoing sugar entirely or replacing it with non-nutritive sweeteners will be proven to be just as detrimental. Balance is always the most important thing, but when it comes to gut health - organic, minimally processed cane sugar might be a heck of a lot better than fake.
What are non-nutritive sweeteners anyway?
Non-nutritive sweeteners are the sugar alternatives you see in everyday food & drinks. There are currently eight non-nutritive sweeteners approved by the FDA, aspartame, acesulfame potassium, luo han guo (monk) fruit extract, neotame, saccharin, stevia, sucralose, and advantame. The word non-nutritive itself means “not providing nourishment,” non-nutritive substances have very little to no calories or nutrients. Some of these sweeteners are naturally derived from plants, such as stevia or monk fruit - and others that are used in drinks are synthesized in a lab. Most of these sweeteners have been popularized as weight loss-centric tools, though there is not sufficient data to support the safety of consuming these sweeteners. A study in 2019 found:
NNS consumption can induce gut microbiota dysbiosis and promote glucose intolerance in healthy individuals which may result in the development of type 2 diabetes mellitus.
(Liauchonak, I., Qorri, B., Dawoud, F., Riat, Y., & Szewczuk, M. R. 2019)
What about stevia?
Stevia has been the artificial sweetener most heavily approved of by those interested in health and wellness. The popularity of stevia makes sense, it comes from a plant! However, recent studies have demonstrated that it is not good for your gut and overall wellness. Many of us just accept the fact that stevia has 0 calories, but have we ever stopped to wonder exactly HOW that is possible?
Stevia comes from an herbal shrub from South America that has been used for centuries as a hypoglycemic agent. It has a very sweet taste, about 200 to 400 times sweeter than sugar. It’s calorie-free because your body can’t metabolize it. Many products such as kombuchas, probiotic drinks, and other health foods that advertise “gut support,” use stevia to ensure their caloric values stay low.
The problem with stevia…
Sure, it would be great to have a sweet substitute that’s zero calories, but it turns out you can’t have your sugar-free cake and eat it too - not without compromising your microbiome. Though results need to be further substantiated with human studies, 4 animal studies and 1 human study have come to show that stevia can lead to a microbial imbalance in the gut. To summarize:
In several studies on various rodents, Stevia decreased the number of “good” bacteria in the gut when combined with a standard American diet.2
In one study on rats, Stevia negatively impacted digestion and metabolism in both mother rats and their newborns, meaning it passed on to the embryo during pregnancy.3
In another study done on rats, Stevia compromised the dopamine transfer mechanism, which is how the gut manages dopamine release. Dopamine is the neurotransmitter responsible for euphoric and happy feelings, so we definitely don’t want to lose it!4
In the latest publications on stevia, a human study demonstrated that stevia significantly reduced “quorum sensing” in the gut. Meaning that it disrupted the communication system between your gut microbiome and the rest of the body!5
In a recent 2023 study, a sugar replacement used in many stevia, monk-fruit, keto and other reduced-sugar products marketed for weight loss and diabetes has been linked to stroke, heart attack and early death..6
The bottom line of all of these studies is that Stevia and the gut microbiome do NOT mix. This is especially pertinent information if you are investing your money in your gut health via pre and probiotic supplements that are actually damaging your gut with stevia. In addition to the gut health risks, there have been a variety of other ailments linked to non-nutritive sweeteners, including:
Increased appetite
Weight gain
Headaches
Depression
Behavioral and cognitive effects
Neurological issues
Risk of preterm delivery
Cardiovascular effects
Risk of chronic kidney disease
The verdict from most researchers? Avoid and reduce the consumption of stevia as much as possible.
Why is sugar important?
Sugar certainly gets a bad rap. So why do our bodies crave sugar? Glucose is absolutely vital to the synthesis of ATP - a throwback to high school biology, this is how your body creates energy. Sugar is the purest form of glucose, though your body can break down various food sources to get glucose for glycolysis, it’s going to prefer the most efficient source! In moderation, sugar is part of a very natural and necessary process in our body. Just make sure to balance your intake with movement, hydration, fruits and veggies, and plenty of macronutrients. Your gut will definitely say “Thank you!”
Doctor D’s organic fair-trade cane sugar
Doctor D’s was founded with one true goal, to make gut health universally accessible in the most sustainable and delicious way. We choose to feed our cultures with organic fair-trade cane sugar in order to uphold those standards. We believe that this is the best possible option for gut health! In fact, studies have shown fermented sugar digests differently than in other forms. It can benefit digestion processes, have healthier microbiomes, and reduced inflammation. To create living probiotics, we use cane sugar as a prebiotic to feed our cultures. It’s only there for that important purpose!
When choosing healthy food, our philosophy is the simpler the better. That’s why Doctor D’s has always chosen real, organic ingredients - and we will continue to uphold that commitment to health as we grow and change in the future.
Stuart Dimson L.A.c., Co-Founder/CEO
Stuart Dimson is a licensed health professional with a master’s in Acupuncture and Chinese Herbal Medicine. His passion for wellness led to the development of Doctor D’s, as he strives to make the healthiest drink in the most sustainable way possible. When he’s not busy brewing delicious Doctor D’s and running a company, he occasionally stops to write a blog post here. Enjoy!
Made with real ingredients for a healthy gut!
Sources
Liauchonak, I., Qorri, B., Dawoud, F., Riat, Y., & Szewczuk, M. R. (2019). Non-Nutritive Sweeteners and Their Implications on the Development of Metabolic Syndrome. Nutrients, 11(3), 644. https://doi.org/10.3390/nu11030644
Becker, S. L., Chiang, E., Plantinga, A., Carey, H. V., Suen, G., & Swoap, S. J. (2020). Effect of stevia on the gut microbiota and glucose tolerance in a murine model of diet-induced obesity. FEMS microbiology ecology, 96(6), fiaa079. https://doi.org/10.1093/femsec/fiaa079
Nettleton, J. E., Cho, N. A., Klancic, T., Nicolucci, A. C., Shearer, J., Borgland, S. L., Johnston, L. A., Ramay, H. R., Noye Tuplin, E., Chleilat, F., Thomson, C., Mayengbam, S., McCoy, K. D., & Reimer, R. A. (2020). Maternal low-dose aspartame and stevia consumption with an obesogenic diet alters metabolism, gut microbiota and mesolimbic reward system in rat dams and their offspring. Gut, 69(10), 1807–1817. https://doi.org/10.1136/gutjnl-2018-317505
Nettleton, J. E., Klancic, T., Schick, A., Choo, A. C., Shearer, J., Borgland, S. L., Chleilat, F., Mayengbam, S., & Reimer, R. A. (2019). Low-Dose Stevia (Rebaudioside A) Consumption Perturbs Gut Microbiota and the Mesolimbic Dopamine Reward System. Nutrients, 11(6), 1248. https://doi.org/10.3390/nu11061248
Markus, V., Share, O., Teralı, K., Ozer, N., Marks, R. S., Kushmaro, A., & Golberg, K. (2020). Anti-Quorum Sensing Activity of Stevia Extract, Stevioside, Rebaudioside A and Their Aglycon Steviol. Molecules (Basel, Switzerland), 25(22), 5480. https://doi.org/10.3390/molecules25225480
Witkowski M, Nemet I, Alamri H, Wilcox J, Gupta N, Nimer N, Haghikia A, Li XS, Wu Y, Saha PP, Demuth I, König M, Steinhagen-Thiessen E, Cajka T, Fiehn O, Landmesser U, Tang WHW, Hazen SL. Nat Med. 2023 Feb 27. doi: 10.1038/s41591-023-02223-9. Online ahead of print. PMID: 36849732.