Do Artificial Sweeteners Raise Insulin?

Please share:

Before I jump into artificial sweeteners and if they raise insulin or not, it’s important we first understand what insulin is and what it does.

Insulin is a hormone created in the pancreas. Each time you eat (most) carbohydrates, the pancreas produces insulin which in turn helps to either use the blood sugar for energy or store it as energy for later (aka fat). Overconsumption of carbs helps to contribute to insulin resistance (you want to be insulin sensitive). When the cells in your muscles, fat, and liver just can’t take anymore; Insulin resistance creates an inability to utilize all of the blood sugar consumed, it starts to pile up (excess sugar in the blood), and if this happens on a regular basis, you get fat and sick.

People (like me) often consume alternative sweeteners in foods and beverages to avoid blood sugar spikes. I like alternative sweeteners because they just don’t raise my blood sugar BUT they add all the sweetness. And with alternative sweeteners, you don’t get the crash like you do with sugar.

There’s nothing worse than always feeling hungry and getting irritable if you’re not constantly eating. Thank (or curse) blood sugar spikes for that feeling. We’ve all been there, it’s awful… nobody likes you when you’re hangry.

Alternative sweeteners (those low on the glycemic index) won’t raise your blood sugar. There’s no sugar crash, no irritability due to the subsequent low blood sugar after the sugar’s spike. While they’re great for not impacting blood sugar, do artificial and alternative sweeteners raise insulin levels?

What are Alternative & Artificial Sweeteners?

Alternative sweeteners (for me) are any sweeteners that are low or zero on the glycemic index and can be found in in nature. They do not raise blood sugar and are safe for people trying to limit carbohydrate consumption. Artificial sweeteners also typically low or zero on the glycemic index but need to be manufactured (not naturally derived in nature).

There are many more but these are ones I consume on a fairly regular basis.

Even though I see these types of sweeteners as different, there are a lot of people that would classify these as the same, as artificial sweeteners. That’s okay, it doesn’t really matter with all things considered and this question. Click the link for the alternative sweeteners above to learn more on how they are found in nature and then created for ingredient usage.

Recently I read a tweet and… well, it’s the reason I’m writing this post.

Here it is:

Here’s an author and MD tweeting that he believes alternative sweeteners “trick your metabolism” and then your body in turn starts to “pump out insulin”. He doesn’t cite any references. But I will.

Before I cite references debunking this claim:

(2) personal (anecdotal) facts I’ve realized over the past several years of testing via continuous glucose monitor (CGM).

• Alternative sweeteners (any sweetener low on the glycemic index) have NEVER raised my blood sugar. 1 serving or multiple servings, no blood sugar impact.
• 1 serving of any sugar (sucrose) product consumed raises my blood sugar. 100% of the time.

I can’t easily test insulin levels at home like I can blood sugar (via CGM). So the question here is: do artificial sweeteners that do not raise blood sugar, still have an impact on the pancreas enough to produce excess insulin “pump out insulin” as Mark Hyman suggests?

---

Do Artificial Sweeteners Raise Insulin?

Artificial sweeteners do not raise blood sugar and do not raise insulin levels in healthy populations.

---

Let’s look at the data:

No Acute Effect on the Mean Change in Insulinemic Response

“We conducted a systematic review and meta-analysis of human intervention studies examining the acute effect of (low-energy sweeteners) LES intake on postprandial glucose (PPG) and postprandial insulin (PPI) responses, in order to comprehensively and objectively quantify these relations.”

Conclusions: Ingestion of LES, administered alone or in combination with a nutrient-containing preload, has no acute effects on the mean change in postprandial glycemic or insulinemic responses compared with a control intervention.

Reference

Twenty-six papers (34 PPG trials and 29 PPI trials) were included. There were no reports of statistically significant differences in the effects of LES on PPG and PPI responses compared with control interventions.

Link to above reference

Insulin Results Same in Sucralose, Aspartame, and Water Consumption

“Artificial sweeteners were thought to be metabolically inactive, but after demonstrating that the gustatory mechanism was also localized in the small intestine, suspicions about the metabolic effects of artificial sweeteners have emerged. The objective of this study was to determine the effect of artificial sweeteners (aspartame and sucralose) on blood glucose, insulin, c-peptide and glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1) levels.“

Conclusions: In healthy subjects, total insulin and c-peptide was similar in aspartame, sucralose and water settings. NOTE: subjects were given 72 mg of aspartame and 24 mg of sucralose in 200 ml of water or 200 ml of water alone. Explained: people drank WATER ALONE or WATER & SUCRALOSE or WATER & ASPARTAME and INSULIN response was similar – SIMILAR TO WATER, no significant impact more so than water. WATER!

Link to study

---

Artificial Sweetener Insulin Impact

Very low glycemic artificial and alternative sweeteners have limited to no impact on blood sugar AND insulin levels.

There’s no shortage of opinions when it comes to diet. Maybe Mark Hyman gets it right most of the time, I don’t really know. I do know, with this, he got it dead wrong. Misleading information like this helps no one.

Alternative sweeteners as outlined in this post do not raise blood sugar and do not raise insulin levels. If there is evidence to the contrary, please include a link and explanation in the comments.

Evidence we have right now debunking Mark Hyman’s claim that alternative sweeteners “trick your metabolism” and then your body in turn starts to “pump out insulin” are as follows:

Ingestion of LES, administered alone or in combination with a nutrient-containing preload, has no acute effects on the mean change in postprandial glycemic or insulinemic responses compared with a control intervention.

and

In healthy subjects, total insulin and c-peptide was similar in aspartame, sucralose and water settings. Meaning: no difference between the consumption of water or water with aspartame or sucralose.

If you consume these artificial sweeteners, rest assured: your blood sugar is not rising, you’re not producing high levels of insulin, and you’re not tricking your metabolism that sugar is on its way. What does “tricking your metabolism” even mean (insert massive eye roll)?

Pin this post:

Please share: