By George Citroner
Scientists have discovered a missing link between sugary drinks and diabetes risk: your gut bacteria.
A new study suggests that drinking sugar-sweetened beverages (SSB) not only floods your body with empty calories but also disrupts the delicate balance of microbes in your digestive system—changes that may predict who will develop diabetes years before symptoms appear.
This study, according to the authors, is the first to assess its effects on metabolism and diabetes risk, particularly within the U.S.-based Hispanic and Latino population—a group facing higher rates of diabetes and higher consumption of sugary drinks.
Microbiome Could Play Significant Role
Published in the journal Cell Metabolism, the long-term cohort study of more than 11,000 Hispanic and Latino adults looked at how gut bacteria and blood chemicals (from food breakdown) differed between people who drank lots of sugary drinks. Sugar-sweetened beverages are the main source of added sugar in the diets of U.S. adults, according to the researchers.
Gut bacteria significantly influence blood sugar levels and metabolic markers by producing metabolites like short-chain fatty acids, which can directly impact insulin sensitivity and the body’s ability to process glucose.
The researchers found that specific blood chemical changes linked to sugary drinks increased the risk of diabetes over the next 10 years. Type 2 diabetes, a condition where the body gradually loses its ability to effectively regulate blood sugar, affects more than half a billion people worldwide.
“Our study suggests a potential mechanism to explain why sugar-sweetened beverages are bad for your metabolism,” Qibin Qi, an epidemiologist at Albert Einstein College of Medicine and senior study author, said in a statement.
Qi noted that compared to solid foods, added sugars in beverages “might be more easily absorbed, and they have a really high energy density because they’re just sugar and water.” This rapid absorption of sugar can lead to blood sugar spikes, increased risk of obesity, and other health issues when consumed in excess.
“Although our findings are observational, they provide insights for potential diabetes prevention or management strategies using the gut microbiome.”
Adverse Microbiome Changes
The study found no overall link between SSB consumption and the general diversity of gut bacteria. However, it did find nine specific gut bacteria linked to SSB intake.
One bacterium, Dakarella massiliensis, was less common in people who drank more SSBs. Eight other bacteria (all from the Firmicutes phylum, one of the most abundant groups of bacteria in the human gut) were also linked to SSB intake. Two (Anaerostipes caccae and Clostridium bolteae) were more abundant with higher SSB consumption.
The study doesn’t directly link these specific bacterial changes to diabetes risk, but changes in the gut microbiome can have downstream effects on health, including potentially influencing diabetes risk.
The gut bacteria associated with sugary drinks were also linked to poorer metabolic health, including elevated fasting blood glucose and insulin levels, higher body mass indexes, and lower levels of high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (“good” cholesterol). Interestingly, this link wasn’t seen with sugar from other foods.
Additionally, links were found between sugary beverage consumption and 56 blood metabolites. These included several produced by our microbiome.
People with high levels of certain metabolites, including some fats and branched-chain amino acids (which affect metabolism and blood sugar) and low levels of other amino acid derivatives, had a higher risk of developing diabetes over the next 10 years.
Five groups of metabolites were identified. One of them—branched-chain amino acid (BCAA) derivatives, crucial for energy production and produced by the microbiota—increased with sugary drink consumption and related gut bacteria changes. Elevated levels of BCAAs and their derivatives can interfere with insulin signaling, making cells less responsive to insulin and increasing the risk of diabetes.
Predicting Future Diabetes Risk
“We found that several microbiota-related metabolites are associated with the risk of diabetes,” Qi stated. “In other words, these metabolites may predict future diabetes.” These metabolites include creatine, urate, xanthine, and various fatty acid derivatives like 1-palmitoleoylglycerol and 1-oleoylglycerol.
The researchers noted that, due to limited sample sizes for gut microbiome analysis, further investigation is needed to confirm direct associations between specific gut microbes and diabetes risk.
The research team plans to validate these findings in other populations and explore the role of microbial metabolites in other chronic health issues linked to excessive sugar consumption, including cardiovascular disease.
Just Skip the Sugar: Expert
Empty calories aren’t the only concern with sugary drinks.
These beverages don’t satisfy hunger like solid food, leading people to consume far more calories than they realize, Stephanie Schiff, a registered dietitian and certified diabetes specialist at Huntington Hospital in New York, told The Epoch Times. “The other issue we’ve discovered is that an excessive sugar intake disturbs our gut microbiome.”
Schiff recommends switching out sugary drinks with water, which she called the “gold standard,” but seltzer, tea (conventional or herbal), and coffee are also good options.
“Just skip the sugar,” she said, adding that it’s a good idea to avoid flavored coffees, as they often have an “incredible” amount of sugar in them. For example, a coffee flavored with some types of syrup can contain 70 grams or more in one large drink.
Schiff pointed out that there haven’t been many studies on the effect artificial sweeteners may have on the gut microbiome, but those that have been done show both negative and neutral effects.
“My advice would be to avoid artificial sweeteners if you can, or go with mostly natural non-nutritive sweeteners, such as Stevia.”
