Hidden Link Between Artificial Sweeteners and Chronic Pain
If you're dealing with chronic back pain or neck pain, you've likely explored 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? Emerging research intimates that artificial sweeteners might be sabotaging your pain relief efforts through an unexpected pathway: your gut. Aurora Chiropractic Center is here to explore any potential 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 pointed out that artificially sweetened foods can truly cause chronic pain by disrupting the gut microbiota. (1) This isn't just connection—the research shows a causal relationship between using these sweeteners and elevated pain levels.
HOW SWEETNERS TRIGGER PAIN
Artificial sweeteners can alter the balance of beneficial bacteria living in your digestive system. These upset microbes trigger inflammatory responses that travel throughout your body. Research published in the British Journal of Anaesthesia by Guo and colleagues depicts how 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 Aurora Chiropractic Center, 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 eliminating artificial sweeteners from your diet. This would involve checking labels on diet sodas, protein bars, yogurts, and sugar-free desserts for ingredients like aspartame, sucralose, and saccharin
Chiropractic physicians recognize that pain management requires a whole-body approach. While spinal adjustments address mechanical dysfunction, decreasing inflammation through dietary modifications can significantly raise treatment outcomes. By boosting your gut health, you're establishing an internal environment more beneficial to healing and less receptive to pain signals. Little dietary changes might be a big extra to your pain relief strategy with Aurora Chiropractic Center.
Your way to back pain relief and/or neck pain relief may start with what you take out of your grocery cart.
CONTACT Aurora Chiropractic Center
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 benefit of chiropractic care like The Cox® Technic System of Spinal Pain Management that Juneau chiropractic patients may experience.
