Read the full episode + resources here:

https://becomingnatural.com/episode-73-artificial-sweeteners-effects-on-body

Artificial sweeteners are everywhere — from diet drinks to protein powders to “healthy” snack foods — and they’re often marketed as the smarter alternative to sugar.

But what do artificial sweeteners actually do inside the body?

In this episode, we walk through the science behind artificial sweeteners effects on body systems, including how they interact with metabolism, appetite signaling, insulin response, and the gut microbiome. While these compounds are often labeled as “zero calorie,” they are not biologically neutral — and understanding that difference changes how we approach them.

We also unpack the “diet soda paradox,” where products designed to support weight loss are sometimes associated with increased cravings or weight gain over time. This isn’t about fear — it’s about understanding how the body interprets sweetness as a signal, and what happens when that signal arrives without real energy behind it.

You’ll also learn how to identify hidden artificial sweeteners and sugar alcohols on ingredient labels — including common names like sucralose, aspartame, erythritol, and acesulfame potassium — and why they often show up in products marketed as “low sugar,” “keto,” or “diabetic-friendly.”

If you’ve ever wondered why cravings increase after diet drinks, why “sugar-free” doesn’t always feel satisfying, or how these ingredients may impact gut health, this episode will help connect those dots in a simple, grounded way.

In this episode, you’ll learn:

1. how artificial sweeteners affect metabolism and appetite signals
2. why “zero calories” doesn’t mean “no metabolic impact”
3. the connection between artificial sweeteners and gut microbiome changes
4. how to recognize hidden sweeteners on ingredient labels
5. a simple, practical way to reset your taste preferences

Artificial sweeteners were created with good intentions — but the body is more complex than anyone first realized. This episode invites you to understand those layers so you can make informed, intentional choices without overwhelm.

🎧 Press play to learn what your body may be experiencing beneath the surface.

Better Stevia

https://amzn.to/4sstpUt

Maple Syrup

https://amzn.to/4sDPfVo

Organic Raw & Unfiltered Honey

https://amzn.to/3Pmgsgy

Raw Cane Sugar

https://amzn.to/3NOwGOO

This is an affiliate link, which simply means I may earn a small commission at no extra cost to you. I only recommend products I personally trust.

Hosted by Penelope Sampler

Natural Wellness • Chronic Illness Journey • Faith & Wellness

📩 Join the Email List

🛒 My Trusted Resources Contains affiliate links. Thank you for supporting the show.

📌 Note: I share what I’ve learned on my own journey — the things that have supported me in hard seasons. I offer personal experience, thoughtful research, and lots of encouragement. This podcast isn’t medical advice, and it shouldn’t replace care from a qualified professional. Always talk to someone you trust before making changes to your health routine.

© Becoming Natural Podcast.

73| The Sweet Lie Behind “Sugar-Free”: What Artificial Sweeteners Really Do

One of the most widely used artificial sweeteners in the world was discovered because a scientist accidentally licked chemicals off his fingers in a laboratory.

Another was discovered when a researcher misunderstood instructions to test a chemical and instead tasted it.

Those strange accidents helped launch what is now a multi-billion-dollar diet food industry built on the promise of sweetness… without consequences.

But decades later researchers are asking a surprising question.

If artificial sweeteners were designed to help prevent obesity and diabetes…

why did both rise dramatically during the same decades artificial sweeteners became common in our food supply?

Today we’re going to dive in to that fascinating story.

Welcome to the Becoming Natural Podcast.

I’m Penny, and I’m really glad you’re here.

There are a lot of places you could spend your time and attention today, and it means a lot that you chose to spend part of your day here.

My hope with every episode is simple:

To explore the incredible ways our bodies were designed…

to look at the research together…

and to help make complex health information understandable without becoming overwhelming.

If you ever want the studies, resources, or downloads connected to these conversations, you can always find them at BecomingNatural.com.

Alright.

Let’s talk about something that has quietly become one of the most common ingredients in modern foods. Something that hits very close to home for me. Todays episode is: 73| The Sweet Lie Behind “Sugar-Free”: What Artificial Sweeteners Really Do

Artificial sweeteners.

Sometimes called fake sugars.

Imagine standing in the grocery store checkout line.

Right there next to the gum and magazines are brightly colored drinks and little packets labeled:

Sugar-Free.

Zero Calories.

Diet Friendly.

Maybe you've grabbed one before.

Maybe someone in your family uses them every day.

The promise sounds appealing.

All the sweetness…

none of the sugar.

You may have stood there yourself at some point wondering:

Is this actually healthier… or is this just good marketing?

For me, this became personal.

When I discovered I actually don’t tolerate fake sugars. I considered it a gift after reading that fake sugars, being the chemicals that they are, can’t be digested readily. So contrary to what we are sold, they run around in our bodies actually making us fatter. Having Crohns Disease and too many hospital stays to count, I was put on a clear liquid diet every time I was severe enough to be admitted to the hospital. And every clear liquid approved hospital food is sugar free. Sugar free jello, sugar free popsicles, crystal light with the idea they are helping their diabetic patients. Meanwhile, this GI patient was left sipping chicken broth made from powder for days on end to prevent stomach knots and vomitting from sugar free anything. One time I was admitted to the ER in severe pain and distress and thru no fault of the nurse, she was trying to help me get some nasty medicine swallowed while I was distracted getting a morphine drip from another nurse and she dumped the oral meds in Crystal Light and told me to shoot it. However, I had so much going on I didn’t stop to ask if it was crystal light, the ER standard of care. I should have been smarter, but I was in an excrutiating amount of pain. The minute I swallowed that shot of medicine I tasted the lemonade and asked if it was crystal light Within seconds, I was vomiting everything back up. My body rejected it immediately. And that’s when something clicked:

These substances may be “zero calorie”…

but they are not neutral.

Which brings me to sitting with a friend at lunch one day and she ordered a large fast-food meal — burger, fries… the whole thing.

And then she said something that made me smile a little.

She said,

“I’ll have a Diet Coke though… trying to be healthy.”

It made me smile.

Somewhere along the way many of us were taught that if the drink says diet or zero sugar, it somehow cancels out everything else.

Almost like a nutritional reset button.

But when you start looking more closely at the science behind artificial sweeteners, the story turns out to be much more complicated than that.

I regularly retrieve the little colored artificial sweetener packets for my patients and everyone has their favorite color. We all know the ones….

Pink → Saccharin

Blue → Aspartame

Yellow → Sucralose

Green → Stevia

The ingredient list looked more like something from a chemistry textbook than something from a kitchen.

How did we end up with something this synthetic in something as simple as a cup of coffee? Let alone with the promise as a healthy sugar substitute.

What actually is a BETTER form of sweetness?

We often swing between extremes:

We go from

“sugar is bad”…

to “anything without sugar must be better.”

But that’s not actually the full picture.

Because not all sweetness is created equal.

There’s a very big difference between something that was created in a lab…

and something that originally came from the earth.

Sugar, in its most original form, comes from sugar cane.

It grows.

It’s harvested.

Even though modern sugar is heavily processed…

it started as something real.

Now, what we typically find in stores today—white refined sugar—has been heavily processed, bleached, stripped down.

And because of that, it behaves differently in the body than it originally did.

But if you step one layer back from that…

to something like raw, unbleached cane sugar…

you’re already closer to something the body recognizes.

And if you step even further into natural sources of sweetness…

this is where things get really amazing.

Because now we’re not just talking about sweetness…

we’re talking about substances that actually bring something with them.

Take honey. Maple syrup

Fruit

They contain enzymes, antioxidants, and small amounts of vitamins and minerals.

There’s even some evidence that local honey may help support the body’s response to seasonal allergens over time.

Not a cure…

but a reminder that this is something the body can actually interact with.

And then there’s maple syrup.

Real maple syrup—especially the darker varieties—contains minerals like manganese and zinc.

It also has a slightly lower glycemic impact than white sugar.

Again, that doesn’t make it “free food.”

But it does show us something important.

👉 The body recognizes them

👉 The body has a pathway for them

They come with structure.

They come with context.

They come from something living.

And the body actually knows what to do with them.

That doesn’t mean we need them in large amounts.

But it does mean the body has a clear metabolic pathway for them. the body understands what they are.

Now compare that to artificial sweeteners.

Compounds that don’t exist in nature.

That are hundreds of times sweeter than sugar.

That the body can’t fully break down or use for energy.

And now we’re asking the body to interpret something unfamiliar

So instead of thinking in extremes…

it helps to think in layers. Perhaps a sweet pyramid.

Whole foods like fruit…

then honey or maple syrup…

then refined sugar…

and at the very bottom…

artificial sweeteners.

And this is where I personally land.

If I’m going to have something sweet…

I would rather my body understand what it is.

Even if that means having a little real sugar.

And once you start to see that difference more clearly…

you begin to notice something else.

The way these ingredients are presented to us isn’t always straightforward. Make no mistake, the big food companies know when we are on to them and find creative ways of listing Artificial Sweeteners & Sugar Alcohols ingredients.

And this is where things can get a little bit surprising…

because many of the foods that are marketed as “healthy”

are often some of the most concentrated sources of these sweeteners.

Protein bars.

Flavored yogurts.

Electrolyte drink mixes.

“Low-carb” snacks.

Even products labeled as “natural” or “keto-friendly.”

Sometimes the front of the package says one thing…

but when you turn it over and read the ingredient list,

you’ll find multiple forms of artificial sweeteners or sugar alcohols hiding inside.

Not always obvious.

Not always labeled in a way that’s easy to recognize at first glance.

And this is where learning how to read labels becomes incredibly helpful…

Because when sugar is removed…

something has to replace it.

And more often than not…

that replacement is a combination of artificial sweeteners or sugar alcohols.

Hidden Names to Recognize on Food Labels

When reading ingredient labels, sweeteners may appear under several different names.

We will talk about 3 different categories that can helps you recognize the most common ones used in processed foods.

1. Artificial (Non-Nutritive) Sweeteners

These are synthetic or highly processed compounds that provide sweetness with little or no calories.

• Aspartame

• Sucralose

• Saccharin

• Acesulfame potassium (Ace-K)

• Neotame

• Advantame

You’ll often find these in:

diet sodas

sugar-free gum

flavored drink packets

protein powders

sugar-free desserts

2. Sugar Alcohols (Polyols)

Sugar alcohols are technically carbohydrates but are only partially absorbed in the body.

Common examples include:

• Erythritol

• Xylitol

• Sorbitol

• Maltitol

• Mannitol

• Isomalt

• Lactitol

They are commonly found in:

“sugar-free” candy

protein bars

gum

low-carb snacks

diabetic products

Important note for listeners:

Sugar alcohols can sometimes cause bloating or digestive discomfort when consumed in larger amounts because they are only partially absorbed. All the name branded sweeteners like Splenda, Sweet In Low, truvia….all sugar alcohols. So if glancing at a label and you see anything ending in -ol….thats a sugar alcohol. Walk away. I am going to provide a more inclusive download for you to print and keep close when shopping. Marketers are tricky ones. They are highly skilled at what they do and their job isn’t to get you healthy, its to sell their product.

3. “Natural” High-Intensity Sweeteners

These are derived from plants but are often highly refined extracts.

Examples include:

• Stevia extract (Rebaudioside A, Reb-A)

• Monk fruit extract (Luo Han Guo)

These are commonly blended with sugar alcohols like erythritol to improve taste.

For example, products like Truvia are mostly erythritol with a small amount of stevia extract.

Stevia the plant is natural.

But most stevia sweeteners sold in packets are highly processed extracts blended with other sweeteners like erythritol. Typical ingredients in Truvia packets:

Erythritol (about 95–99%) A sugar alcohol

Usually produced through fermentation of corn glucose

Stevia leaf extract (rebaudioside A)

Natural flavors

Quick Grocery Store Tip

When scanning ingredient labels, if you recognize names like:

Aspartame

Sucralose

Saccharin

Ace-K

Erythritol

Xylitol

you’re likely looking at a product sweetened without traditional sugar.

Once you learn these names, you’ll begin noticing them throughout the grocery store

So again…

what looks natural… isn’t always simple.

Originally these sweeteners were used with good intentions. I believe they really were.

Scientists hoped they could help people — especially diabetics — Sugar raises blood glucose

Artificial sweeteners don’t

So they should help.

And for a while, that made sense.

But over time the story became much more complicated than anyone expected.

Many people assume artificial sweeteners only appear in diet soda.

But once you start reading labels, they show up in many unexpected places.

For example:

• protein powders

• flavored yogurts

• electrolyte drink mixes

• sugar-free cough syrup

• chewing gum…upset my stomach. How i discovered i was intolerant

Sometimes they appear in products people associate with health or wellness, which is why reading ingredient labels can be surprisingly eye-opening. Even in your COUGH Syrup.

Lets start with the history of Artificial Sweeteners

Many people assume artificial sweeteners were carefully invented to solve a health problem.

But as i mentioned in the opening, several of them were discovered by accident.

A chemist studying coal-tar derivatives noticed that everything he touched tasted incredibly sweet.

After investigating, he realized the sweetness came from a compound left on his hands from the laboratory.

Yes — the discovery literally happened because someone forgot to wash their hands after working with chemicals.

Which is a little funny if you think about it…

Some of the most common ingredients in our modern diet were discovered because scientists accidentally tasted their lab experiments.

Later discoveries followed similar stories.

Sucralose was discovered when a researcher misunderstood instructions to “test” a compound and instead tasted it.

Suddenly scientists had substances that were hundreds of times sweeter than sugar but contained almost no calories.

What made these discoveries so exciting to scientists was the intensity of sweetness.

Saccharin is roughly 300 times sweeter than sugar.

Aspartame is about 200 times sweeter than sugar.

Sucralose can be 600 times sweeter than sugar.

Which means manufacturers only need a tiny amount to create a very sweet flavor.

What happens when the body experiences sweetness hundreds of times stronger than anything found in nature?

To scientists at the time, that sounded like a breakthrough.

Especially for people living with diabetes.

The Original reasoning of the Promise

seemed straightforward.

So replacing sugar with these compounds should help people manage weight and blood sugar.

Diet foods exploded in popularity.

Diet drinks

Sugar-free yogurt.

Low-calorie desserts.

Even product names with the word ZERO in them….indicating ZERO sugar and ALL fake sugars.

Artificial sweeteners were widely promoted as a modern nutrition solution.

But as decades passed, researchers began noticing something unexpected.

The Diet Soda Paradox

Yet during those same decades, rates of obesity and type 2 diabetes continued climbing dramatically.

Now—this doesn’t prove cause.

But several long-term observational studies revealed something interesting.

People who consumed diet beverages regularly were often more likely to gain weight over time than those who did not.

That sounds backwards.

How could something with zero calories be linked to weight gain?

So we now have an interesting paradox.

Artificial sweeteners were originally introduced to help reduce obesity and diabetes.

Yet during the decades they became widespread, both conditions increased dramatically.

This doesn’t automatically prove artificial sweeteners caused those changes.

Artificial sweeteners have been studied for decades.

Some compounds, like aspartame, have been classified as “possibly carcinogenic,” which means evidence is limited and still being investigated. Yikes.

Most regulatory agencies still consider them safe within recommended intake levels. But most people don’t just consume one “diet” product in a day. Its a diet drink with a protein bar and cup of yogurt and pretty soon you have had 10 or more servings of fake sugars in a day.

a growing area of research suggests these compounds may interact with metabolism, appetite signals, and gut bacteria in ways scientists did not fully anticipate. If you’ve ever finished a diet drink and noticed yourself reaching for something to snack on a little while later…

you’re not imagining things.

Many people report exactly that experience.

Most current day research has begun focusing less on cancer and more on metabolic effects, such as:

appetite signaling

insulin response

gut microbiome changes

glucose tolerance

Some observational studies link high artificial sweetener intake with:

metabolic syndrome

type 2 diabetes risk

weight gain

Several studies show artificial sweeteners may alter the gut microbiome,Researchers observed that some artificial sweeteners promoted glucose intolerance in mice and some human participants by altering gut bacteria.

Again, This doesn’t prove disease causation — but it does show the compounds are not metabolically inert.

Artificial sweeteners are best understood as biologically active substances rather than neutral flavorings.

They:

interact with taste receptors

influence brain reward pathways

may alter gut bacteria

affect appetite signaling

And those effects vary from person to person.

This all raises an important scientific question:

What happens inside the body when sweetness and calories stop arriving together?

To answer that question we have to understand how the brain interprets sweetness.

Your Brain Is Not Easily Fooled

Your brain evolved over thousands of years to interpret sweetness as a signal.

Sweetness historically meant:

Energy is coming.

Calories are coming.

Fuel is coming.

When you taste something sweet, the body begins preparing for incoming glucose.

Hormones shift.

Digestive enzymes activate.

Insulin signaling pathways may begin adjusting.

Scientists actually have a name for the body preparing for food before it even arrives.

It’s called the cephalic phase insulin response.

When your brain senses sweetness — even before food reaches the stomach — it can begin releasing small amounts of insulin in anticipation of incoming glucose.

The body begins preparing for food before calories even arrive. An incredible machine it is.

Some researchers believe artificial sweeteners may stimulate this early metabolic response even though the expected calories never arrive.

But when sweetness arrives without calories, the brain receives mixed information.

Sweet taste is detected.

But the expected energy never arrives.

Researchers believe this mismatch may lead to several responses:

• increased hunger signals

• altered insulin signaling

• increased cravings later

Some neuroscientists believe this may lead to increased food seeking behavior because the brain continues searching for the expected calories. This may help explain why some people notice stronger cravings after consuming diet drinks or sugar-free desserts.

And when you hear that, it starts to connect pretty quickly.

Another fascinating area of research involves the dopamine reward system in the brain.

Natural sugars activate reward centers that reinforce energy intake.

Artificial sweeteners sometimes activate these pathways differently or incompletely.

There is another factor researchers sometimes discuss called sweetness exposure.

When our diet regularly contains extremely intense sweetness — far sweeter than anything found in nature — our taste receptors may gradually adapt.

Over time normal foods like fruit may begin tasting less sweet by comparison.

Which can unintentionally push people toward even sweeter foods to satisfy that taste expectation. Its so frustrating to watch this very common belief of diet or low to no sugar products being pushed in our hospitals when patients are truly getting the worst possible food products. It is better to have real sugar, real food, whole milk, real butter….all the things our bodies know how to break down. Nothing removed so something fake is replacing the real. Its so incredibly frustrating to watch.

The Gut Microbiome Surprise

Your digestive system contains trillions of bacteria that influence:

metabolism

immune function

inflammation

brain signaling

One widely discussed study found that certain artificial sweeteners altered gut bacteria in mice and human volunteers in ways that worsened glucose tolerance.

Glucose intolerance means the body struggles to process sugar efficiently — often a precursor to metabolic disease.

In animal models, specific sweeteners shifted bacterial populations that changed glucose metabolism.

This is one of those moments where the body reminds us it’s never doing just one thing at a time.

A drink that contains zero calories can still send signals to the brain…

interact with taste receptors…

and even influence the bacteria living inside the digestive system.

Even substances with zero calories may influence metabolism through microbiome pathways.

Many people assume that zero calories means zero metabolic impact or that that “sugar-free” automatically means healthier. Neither is true.

Artificial sweeteners do contain little or no calories, but that doesn’t necessarily mean the body ignores them.

Even without calories they can still interact with taste receptors, appetite signals, and hormonal pathways.

But when you turn a package over and read the ingredient list, many sugar-free foods are still highly processed products containing stabilizers, emulsifiers, and intensely concentrated sweeteners. And this is where it becomes clear… sugar is not the only part of the picture.”

Once you start noticing these ingredient names…

it becomes surprisingly difficult to stop seeing them.

And this doesn’t necessarily mean artificial sweeteners are harmful for everyone.

Some people tolerate them just fine.

But it does remind us that the body is an incredibly complex system.

Metabolism isn’t influenced by just calories alone.

So instead of thinking about artificial sweeteners as simply good or bad, it can be more helpful to think of them as biologically active substances that the body responds to in ways researchers are still exploring.

The good news is this doesn’t have to be complicated.

A practical approach might include:

• reading ingredient labels

• limiting heavily processed diet foods

• choosing whole foods more often

• allowing sweetness from natural sources like fruit

Health rarely comes from changing one ingredient.

It usually comes from overall patterns.

The encouraging part is that taste preferences can shift surprisingly quickly when sweetness exposure changes.

Many families find it helpful to focus on whole food sources of sweetness most of the time.

Some simple swaps include:

Instead of flavored yogurt

→ try plain yogurt with fresh fruit

Instead of sugary drinks

→ try sparkling water with lemon or berries

Instead of packaged desserts

→ try fruit with nut butter or yogurt

Instead of sweetened oatmeal packets

→ try plain oats with cinnamon and fruit

Healthy habits are built over time.

Small shifts in everyday foods can make a meaningful difference without feeling overwhelming.

And when we step back from the science for a moment…

Sometimes the deeper conversation underneath all of this is stewardship.

Scripture reminds us in 1 Corinthians 6:19–20 that our bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit.

This isn’t about perfection.

It’s about paying attention.

Learning.

Caring for the incredible systems God designed within us.

Sometimes the more we learn about the body, the more we realize how thoughtfully it was designed.

Taste receptors.

Hormonal signals.

Microbial ecosystems.

It is remarkable design.

I love sugar.

I love a Coke.

I understand cravings.

But given the choice:

👉 I choose real sugar over artificial every time.

Because the body knows what to do with it.

Better yet cane sugar or unbleached, raw sugar in the store. The more its messed with the worse it is.

Listener Experiment Challenge

I want to invite you into a small experiment this week.

For the next five to seven days, try removing artificial sweeteners from your routine.

No diet cokes

No sugar-free gum. (Gum is a real culprit btw.)

No drink packets.

Instead try fruit, a little honey, or simply allowing your taste buds to reset.

Taste receptors actually regenerate roughly every 10–14 days.

Which means when sweetness exposure changes, our perception of sweetness can shift surprisingly quickly.

Many people notice that after a week without artificial sweeteners, fruit suddenly tastes much sweeter than it did before.

During that week notice a few things.

Do cravings change?

Does fruit taste sweeter?

Does your appetite shift?

Many people are surprised that when artificial sweeteners disappear for a few days, their taste buds recalibrate.

Most people discover they need “less” sweet when they reintroduce sugar after restricting it for a time.

Because health is rarely about perfection.

It’s usually about paying attention… and making small adjustments over time.

Artificial sweeteners were created with good intentions.

But the body is more complex than anyone first realized.

I’ve heard people describe this change in a funny way.

They say once their taste buds reset, a strawberry starts tasting like dessert again.

And maybe that tells us something important about the way our bodies were designed to experience food.

Sometimes the simplest foods remind us what sweetness was meant to taste like. The way it was created for us in the Garden.

Sometimes the most helpful health choices come not from chasing the newest innovation…

but from returning to foods our bodies recognize….f

If this felt like a conversation you needed today, I’m really glad we had it.If it gave you something to think about, I’d invite you to sit with it this week…

pay attention to what your body is telling you… and follow that quiet nudge toward what feels more aligned.

And if there’s someone in your life who’s been asking similar questions, send this their way—sometimes the right conversation at the right time can make all the difference.

Thank you for being here.

You’re not walking this journey alone.