Hidden Link Between Artificial Sweeteners and Chronic Pain
If you're dealing with chronic back pain or neck pain, you've likely checked out many options—from stretches and heating pads to over-the-counter pain relievers. But have you thought about the impact your diet drinks and “sugar-free” snacks may have? Evolving research intimates that artificial sweeteners might be sabotaging your pain relief efforts through an unexpected pathway: your gut. Gormish Chiropractic & Rehabilitation is here to explore any possible avenues to help you get your pain under control!
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 demonstrated that artificially sweetened foods can truly cause chronic pain by disturbing the gut microbiota. (1) This isn't just connection—the research shows a causal relationship between consuming these sweeteners and increased pain levels.
HOW SWEETNERS TRIGGER PAIN
When you consume artificial sweeteners, they modify the composition of your gut bacteria. These disrupted microbes trigger inflammatory responses that travel throughout your body. Research released in the British Journal of Anaesthesia by Guo and colleagues shows that gut bacteria impact pain levels by affecting immune responses and how sensitive your nerves become. (2)
For back and neck pain sufferers seeking help at Gormish Chiropractic & Rehabilitation, this inflammation can heighten pain sensitivity in already weak areas. Your spinal nerves become more reactive, making an already uncomfortable situation worse and potentially slowing your recovery.
TAKING ACTION
Before your next chiropractic appointment, you might want to explore whether artificial sweeteners are bothering your pain levels. Consider attempting a two-week experiment where you reduce or swap out products that have artificial sweeteners. This could require picking to drink water or herbal tea instead of diet sodas, or opting for snacks that don’t contain ingredients like aspartame, sucralose, and saccharin.
Chiropractic physicians recognize that pain management demands a whole-body approach. While spinal adjustments address mechanical dysfunction, lowering inflammation through dietary modifications can significantly boost treatment outcomes. By sustaining your gut health, you're making an internal environment more beneficial to healing and less responsive to pain signals. Small dietary changes might be a valuable addition to your pain relief strategy with Gormish Chiropractic & Rehabilitation.
Your path to back pain relief and/or neck pain relief may start with what you don’t put into your grocery cart.
CONTACT Gormish Chiropractic & Rehabilitation
Listen to this PODCAST with Dr. James Cox, on The Back Doctors Podcast with Dr. Michael Johnson as he describes the impact inflammation has on the immune system and the help chiropractic care like The Cox® Technic System of Spinal Pain Management that Carrolltown chiropractic patients may experience.
