Confused 🤔 on which sweetener to use to protect your gut health? Read on!👇

My gut health clients typically ask me this on the regular, so I wanted to shed some light on the topic! 💡

You see, the gut microbiome is like a fingerprint ☝️, each one is unique 🦄. The sweetener I recommend my clients use depends on their particular condition or set of concerns.

So let’s break down the list shall we 📝

1. Stevia

This plant derived sweetener is used in soooo many food products now but there is some research that indicates it may interrupt gut microbe signaling, which may lead to suboptimal function 😦. However more research 🔬 is needed to make any definitive conclusions! 🤓

2. Cane sugar🍭

The classic sweet stuff is also found in most packaged food items in markets nowadays. From cupcakes to marinades, it serves many functions in cooking. It’s a natural anti-microbial, assists in texture in baked goods and of course, accentuates and/or balances flavors in a variety of dishes. There is some research that has found that ingesting too much added sugar may impact the integrity of the intestinal wall, leading to intestinal permeability, among other things! Keeping in mind balance and moderation with added sugar containing foods is key 🔑

3. Erythritol

This sweetener is gaining popularity on the food scene since it is a naturally occurring sugar alcohol that isn’t as fermentable by gut bacteria, as compared to other artificial sugars. Unfortunately, it has been linked to digestive symptoms when consumed in excess in some studies. 🤭

4. Sucralose (aka splenda)

This artificial sugar🧪 combines molecules from sugar and chlorine to form a much sweeter version of its predecessor . As with most other artificial sugars, it’s fermented in the gut, since the body doesn’t absorb it. Because of this, it can cause pain and bloating in some people 😓. Not only that, in some animal studies, Sucralose was shown to kill off as many as 50% of good microbes in the gut! 👎👎