June 22, 2026
The gut gets the last word
A lot of nutrition advice is louder than it is accurate. This week we looked at two findings that complicate the usual story — why ‘sugar-free’ isn’t the clean win the label suggests, and how one kind of starch feeds your gut bacteria rather than you. Small shifts in how to think about what’s on your plate.
The Surprising Problem With Sugar-Free Diets: What the New Research Says
A 2022 landmark study in Cell from the Weizmann Institute found all four major artificial sweeteners — saccharin, sucralose, aspartame, and stevia — significantly altered gut microbiome composition within just two weeks in healthy adults who had not previously consumed them.
Resistant Starch: The Carb That Feeds Your Gut Bacteria Instead of Your Blood Sugar
Resistant starch passes through the small intestine intact and reaches the colon, where gut bacteria ferment it into butyrate and other short-chain fatty acids — these contribute roughly 10% of daily human energy needs drawn from the colon, not the bloodstream.
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