The Hidden Truth About Zero-Sugar Foods & Diabetes Risk (Splenda, Stevia & Kidney Health Explained)
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All right. Welcome back to The Living Life Well show. So it's been about a month since we last had an episode released. A lot's happened in that time, and so I'm happy to be back with you today. I hope your month of July was, was great like mine was. And now that we're wrapping up summer and getting back into the swing of things, I wanted to get back with you here today and discuss some things that have come out in the literature over the course of the summer.
Maybe you've seen them, maybe you haven't. Today, what we're really gonna be talking about is labeling and packaging and how what we think is maybe healthy really isn't how the wool is really maybe being pulled over our eyes.
So you remember back in the '80s and '90s and the very much the, the low-fat craze that [00:01:00] was. So basically, officials decided that fat was the enemy. They declared a war on fat, blaming it for, you know, heart disease and obesity. And so really the message was this, is, "Stop fat. All fat is bad." But what we have seen is these unintended consequences with all this low-fat craze, the removing of the fats, essentially processing the foods, the switching and flavor added to these foods, and the increased carbohydrate content of these foods really not doing anything, did not have an effect on trying to avoid fat.
And we accidentally engineered a food supply that triggered this catastrophe of insulin resistance and type 2 diabetes that we're really seeing that are, that have, has gone crazy in the [00:02:00] last 20, 30 years. So basically- What we see with the low fat is, is that fat is really what kinda gives you that satiety or that full feeling.
It kind of coats and moisturizes your mouth and is, is what adds flavor. When they strip that fat, they strip that flavor. Now, things tasted like cardboard or almost even chalk. And so, basically, to fix that issue, is they wanted to make it palatable again, so they started adding the refined carbohydrates.
This is where we really saw that increase in the high fructose corn syrup and artificial sweeteners. And so that low-fat muffin became... that was, quote, a "health food" wasn't really a health food, 'cause now it is completely stocked with all kinds of sugars, all kinds of emulsifiers to try and break down what would have happened had we kept that [00:03:00] original fat content and the original simplified ingredients that were used to create muffins before this low-fat craze.
So what happens is when you add all these things to it, your pancreas kind of goes crazy. Your pancreas says, "Oh my gosh, we've got this huge sugar load. We've gotta dump insulin." So insulin's being produced like crazy, and basically, that starts that chain of insulin resistance, as continuing to eat these things over time has created shifts in not only your pancreas's function, but also the inflammation within your body and within your gut.
So in addition to the issue with the pancreas, the new kind of additives that are going into these low-fat products now are also creating [00:04:00] inflammation within the liver. They're creating this fatty liver, which again, this change in fat composition and location and this greater inflammation is leading to not only affecting your liver and your liver function, but also your kidneys.
These are the two primary organs that are involved in detoxifying your body, and now we have taken that control away. So now, that's the low-fat craze, but what is it that you're seeing now every day in any type of media, on the store shelves, that is the big craze that's going around? Zero sugar, right?
Zero sugar, low sugar, no sugar added, right? So, so those are the phrases that we're seeing. Well, in late June, there was a article that was published that maybe you've seen or, or haven't but it was entitled [00:05:00] Artificial and Other Non-Nutritive Sweeteners in the Microbiome and Cardiometab-metabolic Health.
So this was set in by a physician that, that works for the Food as Medicine Institute and has been published and referenced in multiple sites over the last couple of months as, as you might imagine, since this has come out. So I wanted to kinda go through that article a little bit, talk about that, and then talk about what we really need to be looking for.
So the way this was done is this was conducted at the Food as Medicine Institute at Tufts, and the, the paper is, is basically a review paper, meaning that they took several different other studies or did what's called a meta-analysis and they looked at 21 different randomized controlled tri-trials and observational studies.
So, a meta-analysis is [00:06:00] a good approach. Really, a prospective randomized controlled trial would be kind of, where we would want to look. However, there's been plenty of studies on this in the past, and so this gives us a really good basis to be able to draw conclusions from. So the goal of this study was to really measure the direct physiological impact of these substances on cardiometabolic health, rather than just looking at what, you know, minimizing calories did.
So first thing we need to do is we need to define what they call non-nutritive sweeteners. So non-nutritive sweeteners are synthetic and or natural food additives that provide a highly concentrated sweet taste without adding significant calories or nutritional value, such as vitamins and minerals or, or protein.
And so- Because the body [00:07:00] can't either fully break them down or metabolize them without extracting energy, they don't contribute to your daily caloric intake. So they generally bypass through the upper digestive tract and reach the intestines because they just really aren't affected by that acid blockade that comes from the stomach that's designed to destroy natural things in their natural form.
So based on the twenty twenty-six review from the current atherosclerosis reports the specific non-nutritive sweeteners that they analyzed for this project really m- went by the names, sucralose, things like, like Splenda. And so that Splenda is a, a chemically modified sugar molecule that can't be broken down.
And aspartame, , one of the things that we commonly find in soda with brand names like, like Equal or NutraSweet.
And then there's saccharin. So saccharin's probably [00:08:00] the oldest one that we've seen, and it, it would be mostly associated with, like, Sweet'N Low. And so, so these specific compounds were highlighted because you know, many of the studies in- including randomized controlled trials really showed that they disrupt the composition and function of the gut bacteria and really negatively impact that gluc- glucose and insulin balance there that's in our body. So the big findings that really came out of this study was the, the meta- meta-analysis really found that compared to non-caloric controls, meaning like water or some other placebo, basically, the consumption of these artificial and low-calorie sweetener caused harmful effects on this homeostasis.
Specifically, what they found was it raised insulin fa- fasting levels, also increased hemoglobin A1C, you've heard me talk about both of these many times, and they showed a [00:09:00] trend toward worsening insulin sensitivity. So basically, really negatively affecting the, the glucose and even oral glucose tolerance test.
In addition, it didn't stop there, right? So the, the gut microbiome was being negatively affected as well. And the reason this is, is because these substances, these non-nutritive sweeteners, as they describe them, pass through undigested, and they come into direct contact with that good bacteria, that, that, that gut biome bacteria, those good, healthy bacteria.
And unfortunately, they have altered the composition and the function of the gut biome. That then negatively affects hormone levels. That can affect, um, nutrient levels that are important for absorption and use within your body. In addition, that can also [00:10:00] alter the ability for your body to become insulin sensitive, hence what you're seeing with this trend toward increasing insulin resistance.
And so the review of kind of the, the observational cohort study, so meaning there wasn't really a direct intervention in place, but we were just kind of observing things a- along the way, basically showed what we kinda already know, is that there's a higher long-term risk of developing Type 2 diabetes and unfortunately, experiencing certain, cardiovascular disease outcomes, things like heart attacks and/or, and/or stroke.
So the author's conclusion was as you might imagine, that these are not innocuous things. These things carry short-term harmful effects on your blood sugar and potentially long-term risks, specifically looking at cardiovascular disease. Now, you know, [00:11:00] looking at, you know, trying to cut added sugar, say in the form of soda versus these non nutritive substances, really suggests that- You really just need to avoid both, right?
So you wanna avoid those things that have high content of added sweeteners to it, especially when there is no added benefit of fiber or other products to help slow that glucose spike that occurs with these added substances. Now, I would take this a step further. A step further being the fact that when we look at what they are calling non-nutritive sweeteners.
Now they mentioned the Splenda being the one that most, it closely represents actual sugar, but still has been altered in such a way that it passes through any ty- any type of digestion and then gets all the way down to the gut biome and creates havoc there [00:12:00] as well.
The other thing is when we look at, you know, these, these natural sweeteners, when we talk about coconut sugar, for example baking with coconut sugar or using things like stevia or monk fruit. As you've heard me say, you know, when you use these substances, they might Be a little bit more beneficial than using the other substances like, um, the, the Splenda or the Sweet'N Low or the Equal, the sucralose, all, all those things.
However, they are still going to exhibit that same pancreatic response. So even though something says that it's sweetened with stevia or sweetened with monk fruit, that isn't a free pass to just go ahead and eat as much as you want because it's a zero sugar containing product. So this is where really learning the names [00:13:00] for sugar become very important.
Reading labels become very important. And so that zero sugar or zero calorie drink and/or food doesn't come without consequence. And so we really have to, to look at that. Well, one of the main reasons and, and why I talk about diabetes so much is because, and these, these aspects with regards to diet, is because of the downstream effects that we see that are, you know, being caused by this unadulterated sugar and carbo loads or mimickers that we see.
Because diabetes, really where it causes its most havoc, that we see it most commonly, is in the cardiovascular aspects. But then the other area is the kidneys. A recent study has come out as well that showed basically diabetes and the thirty-six million people with chronic kidney [00:14:00] disease, extreme overlap.
Extreme overlap. And so what we really need to start looking at is really taking a deep dive into those patients that are having kidney disease. Where is this starting from? Is their A1C already elevated? Are there things that we're seeing when we see an increased insulin or an increased hemoglobin A1C or an increased fasting blood sugar that we need to start really looking at and monitoring?
And really, this, this July study from the New England Journal of Medicine published by Boston University, really, you know, went down and looked at- the number of cases with kidney disease but the main driver of kidney disease isn't where we thought it was. It isn't that hypertension,
it isn't that person with underlying polycystic kidney disease. Yes, these things do [00:15:00] contribute to kidney disease, but the real driver is diabetes. And so what do we need to look at to really assess that good kidney function? Well, historically, what we've looked at is something called glomerular filtration rate, or really the kidney's ability to filter appropriately.
And so this is, this is still a good to look at. But as I've said in the past, what we are seeing is the dumbing down of what, quote, " "normal" is to meet what is common. And so when we look even at GFR, the typical range now, used to say from sixty to ninety was, quote, "normal filtration."
Now most labs just put a greater than sign and say fifty-nine. They, they don't give you a range. They just say, if it's over sixty, if it's sixty or higher, that's, quote, "normal." What we really know that optimized filtration [00:16:00] is somewhere between ninety to one twenty. This is a kidney that is functioning optimally, that is filtering very well.
However, there's been more evidence recently that there is maybe even a better look for this, and this is looking for albumin in the urine. And this can tell us when there is that earlier sign maybe of kidney distress. When we start spilling more protein into our urine, that can then be a really good indicator that we need to get really aggressive with our management of our blood sugar control.
So- Those are a couple of things just ripped from the headlines I just wanted to make you aware of. If you or a loved one have diabetes or are struggling with gut health, both of these things could be contributing to that. The fact that you are doing what seems to be [00:17:00] healthy, following low-fat and/or low-sugar diets, unfortunately they don't confer the health that we thought they would.
In addition, if you're struggling with some kidney issues, it could be that we're seeing more of an impact with even slight changes in those blood sugar levels on your kidney's function. And so really going past the baseline labs, making sure that we're using those correct ranges is always going to be important.
So if you or anyone that you know of are interested in, in things like this and, and thyroid health, I would welcome you to, to come and schedule a free discovery call. Or if you're interested in, in just getting started in treatment, you can go ahead and, and purchase our Metabolic Reset course, which is designed to walk you through all these issues that we find so commonly plague many, many, um, millions of Americans, but not only [00:18:00] Americans, really even worldwide.
So I hope this has been beneficial. I hope this has been informative. And thanks, and God bless.
That's it for this episode of The Living Life Well Show. If you like what you've heard and want to learn more or want to know how to put this into practice for yourself, go to livelifewellclinic.com. Until next time, this is Dr. Jon Skelton saying go out and live the truth so you can live life well. The preceding is for entertainment and educational purposes only.
It is not meant to be used to prevent, diagnose, treat, or cure any condition. The information contained in this show does not substitute the need for a qualified medical professional, nor is it meant to provide medical advice or services. If you feel information presented in this show may apply to you, we recommend you seek out the help of a qualified medical professional who can evaluate and treat your specific [00:19:00] concerns.
