Hidden Link Between Artificial Sweeteners and Chronic Pain
If you are living with chronic back or neck pain, you've probably experimented with everything—stretches, heating pads, over-the-counter medications. But have you considered what's in your diet drinks and "sugar-free" snacks? Emerging research suggests that artificial sweeteners might be impairing your pain relief efforts through an unexpected pathway: your gut. Dr. Le's Chiropractic & Wellness, L.L.C. is here to explore any potential avenues to help you get back to enjoying your life!
THE GUT-PAIN CONNECTION
Your gut does more than digest food—it houses trillions of bacteria that affect inflammation in your spine, neck, back, and throughout your body. New research has pointed to a direct connection between artificial sweeteners, gut health, and how sensitive you are to chronic pain.
A 2025 Mendelian randomization study by Zhao and colleagues pointed out that artificially sweetened foods can essentially cause chronic pain by disrupting the gut microbiota. (1) This isn't just connection—the research shows a causal relationship between consuming these sweeteners and higher pain levels.
HOW SWEETNERS TRIGGER PAIN
When you eat artificial sweeteners, they alter the composition of your gut bacteria. These disrupted microbes trigger inflammatory responses that travel throughout your body. Research published in the British Journal of Anaesthesia by Guo and colleagues shows that gut bacteria impact pain levels by altering immune responses and how sensitive your nerves become. (2)
For back and neck pain sufferers seeking help at Dr. Le's Chiropractic & Wellness, L.L.C., this inflammation can raise pain sensitivity in already susceptible areas. Your spinal nerves become more reactive, making an already uncomfortable situation worse and potentially slowing your recovery.
TAKING ACTION
Before you see us again, consider removing artificial sweeteners from your diet. This would entail checking labels on diet sodas, protein bars, yogurts, and sugar-free desserts for ingredients like aspartame, sucralose, and saccharin
Chiropractic physicians understand that pain management demands a whole-body approach. While spinal adjustments focus on mechanical dysfunction, lowering inflammation through dietary modifications can significantly boost treatment outcomes. By sustaining your gut health, you're establishing an internal environment more advantageous to healing and less responsive to pain signals. Small dietary changes might be a big extra to your pain relief strategy with Dr. Le's Chiropractic & Wellness, L.L.C..
Your route to back pain relief and/or neck pain relief may start with what you take out of your shopping cart.
CONTACT Dr. Le's Chiropractic & Wellness, L.L.C.
Listen to this PODCAST with Dr. James Cox, on The Back Doctors Podcast with Dr. Michael Johnson as he illustrates the impact inflammation has on the immune system and the help chiropractic care like The Cox® Technic System of Spinal Pain Management that Auburn chiropractic patients may experience.
