Nikhil Prasad Fact checked by:Thailand Medical News Team Nov 29, 2025 1 hour, 35 minutes ago
Medical News: A Growing Warning About Sugar-Free Sweeteners
A new wave of scientific evidence is challenging the belief that sugar-free products are safer for the body. Researchers from Washington University in St Louis-USA have uncovered troubling information about sorbitol, a common sugar alcohol used in diet foods, chewing gum, protein bars and “zero sugar” snacks. Their work reveals that sorbitol can quietly trigger harmful liver changes, especially when certain gut bacteria are missing or overwhelmed. This
Medical News report explains why this everyday sweetener may not be the harmless substitute many consumers assume.
Scientists uncover how sorbitol can overwhelm the gut and trigger liver damage
How Sorbitol Behaves Inside the Body
Professor Gary Patti, who serves in chemistry, genetics and medicine at Washington University in St Louis, has long studied how sweeteners and natural sugars influence disease. His earlier studies demonstrated how fructose can promote cancer cell growth and fuel steatotic liver disease, a condition now affecting nearly a third of adults worldwide. The new research shows that sorbitol, which is chemically only one step away from fructose, can be converted inside the body into a fructose like compound that burdens the liver. This means that even sugar free products can exert the same damaging pressure on liver metabolism as high fructose diets.
Sorbitol Production Starts in the Gut
Using advanced metabolomics and isotope tracing techniques in zebrafish, the researchers discovered that the intestine naturally produces sorbitol after meals rich in glucose. While earlier assumptions linked sorbitol production mainly to diabetes, where glucose levels remain chronically high, the new findings show that even healthy individuals create substantial amounts of sorbitol after eating. The enzyme responsible has a low affinity for glucose but becomes active when glucose levels spike after food intake, generating significant sorbitol that then flows toward the liver.
The Vital Role of Gut Bacteria
One of the most important insights from the study is the protective role of sorbitol degrading bacteria in the gut. Certain Aeromonas bacterial strains naturally break down sorbitol into harmless compounds. But when these bacteria are missing or when sorbitol intake surpasses what they can manage, the excess sorbitol reaches the liver. In experiments where gut bacteria were eliminated using antibiotics, zebrafish quickly developed steatotic liver disease even while eating standard diets. When the intestines were reintroduced with healthy sorbitol degrading bacteria, the liver damage reversed. This demonstrates that the microbiome acts as a critical filter between sweeteners and liver health.
When Dietary Habits Overwhelm the Gut
Many modern foods include mixtures of sugars, sweeteners and sugar alcohols, creating an environment where sorbitol accumulates faster than the gut can break it down. Even people with the right gut bacteria may still experience problems i
f they routinely consume high glucose foods or large amounts of alternative sweeteners. The study found that gut bacteria can only manage modest sorbitol levels, like those from fruits. But when sorbitol levels rise too high—either from sugary diets that trigger internal sorbitol production or from consuming sorbitol rich products—the system is overwhelmed. Animals that were directly given large amounts of sorbitol developed liver fat buildup similar to animals with depleted gut bacteria, confirming that excess sorbitol alone is harmful.
Why This Matters for Public Health
The research indicates that sorbitol may significantly raise the risk of metabolic dysfunction associated steatotic liver disease, especially in individuals whose gut microbiomes have been weakened by antibiotics, illness, poor diet or other factors. Millions of people rely on sugar free products believing they protect against diabetes, weight gain or metabolic stress. But this new evidence shows that certain sweeteners may create similar or even identical pathways of liver injury as regular sugar. The scientists emphasize the need for more research but agree that consumers should be cautious about frequent sorbitol intake.
Conclusions
This groundbreaking study reveals that sorbitol, long marketed as a safe sugar alternative, can unknowingly trigger liver damage through a complex interaction between diet, gut bacteria and biochemical pathways. Sorbitol is easily produced after glucose rich meals and, when gut bacteria cannot break it down fast enough, travels to the liver where it becomes fructose 1 phosphate, activating processes that increase liver fat and glycogen. The research shows that even moderate disruptions in gut microbiome balance can remove the body’s natural protection, allowing sorbitol to accumulate and harm the liver. These findings challenge the idea of “safe” sweeteners and highlight a growing need for people to better understand how both sugar and sugar substitutes silently influence long term health. The work also reinforces that modern diets filled with hidden sweeteners may be pushing many individuals toward liver problems without their knowledge.
The study findings were published in the peer reviewed journal: Science Signaling
https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/scisignal.adt3549
For the latest on the harms of artificial sweeteners, keep on logging to Thailand
Medical News.
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https://www.thailandmedical.news/news/breaking-news-consumption-of-the-artificial-sweetener-aspartame-linked-to-learning-and-memory-deficits-that-are-passed-to-offspring
https://www.thailandmedical.news/news/breaking-news-study-finds-that-sucralose,-an-artificial-sweetener,-disrupts-the-immune-system-by-decreasing-activation-of-t-cells
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