Hidden Link Between Artificial Sweeteners and Chronic Pain
If you are living with chronic back or neck pain, you've probably tested everything—stretches, heating pads, over-the-counter medications. But have you thought about the impact your diet drinks and “sugar-free” snacks may have? Evolving research suggests that artificial sweeteners might be harming your pain relief efforts through an unexpected pathway: your gut. Lombardy Chiropractic Clinic 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 bear on 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 actually cause chronic pain by disturbing 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
When you eat artificial sweeteners, they alter the composition of your gut bacteria. These disrupted microbes trigger inflammatory responses that go throughout your body. As described in a comprehensive 2019 review by Guo and colleagues in the British Journal of Anaesthesia, the gut microbiota directly controls pain through multiple molecular mechanisms, including immune system activation and nerve sensitivity. (2)
For back and neck pain sufferers seeking help at Lombardy Chiropractic Clinic, 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 you see us again, consider removing 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 demands a whole-body approach. While spinal adjustments address mechanical dysfunction, reducing inflammation through dietary modifications can significantly boost treatment outcomes. By boosting your gut health, you're making an internal environment more conducive to healing and less receptive to pain signals. Small dietary changes might be a great extra to your pain relief strategy with Lombardy Chiropractic Clinic.
Your way to back pain relief and/or neck pain relief may start with what you don’t put into your shopping cart.
CONTACT Lombardy Chiropractic Clinic
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 Augusta chiropractic patients may experience.
