Too Much Sugar? Your Gut Might Be Suffering

Author's Bio: Marcie Vaske, MS, LN, CNS

Hi, and welcome back to our channel.

Today we're going to talk about does sugar impact your gut health?

First, we'll run through what sugars are worse for your gut health and follow it up by how does it really impact your gut. And then finally, we'll answer the questions of what can you do to keep your gut healthy and what sugars can you keep in?

But before we dig into the topic, my name is Marcie Vaske and I'm a functional licensed nutritionist with Oswald Digestive Clinic. And of course at the clinic we talk all day long about gut health. So I do talk a lot about sugar for sure because it is impactful. And we're going to learn more about it today. I will link our website here where you can easily make an initial appointment if you're interested in working with one of us. As well, I'm going to link our free guide, which is Five Ways to Improve Your Gut Health. So let's dig back into our topic about sugar and gut health.

[Video Transcript Below Video - it is the same information]

So first we're going to talk about

What Types of Sugar Are Worse for Your Gut Health?

Refined Sugars and High Fructose Corn Syrup

And at the top of the list we have refined sugars and part of those refined sugars we'll find high fructose corn syrup and high fructose corn syrup is probably the worst one outside of what we'll be talking about in just a moment. But you'll find those in sodas. You'll find that in different processed packaged foods that you're consuming and they really disrupt our microbiome, including they also can contribute to more fatty liver disease and certainly cause more inflammation in our body.

White Sugar

Second on the list is just going to be straight up white sugar. And white sugar can really impact again, the microbiome of our gut, setting it into an off balance state where we might have more symptoms.

Artificial Sweeteners

And then lastly, there is the artificial sugars. And artificial sugars, again, can be found in things that would be low calorie, no calorie, and really do have outside of just the impact that it does on our digestive system, it does impact many different systems in our body creating many symptoms. So staying away from artificial sugars. And you might see those in the words of saccharin, ose, things like Splenda. So if you're looking at seeing those words, just put that drink usually is what you'll see them in, but also in foods for sure, just put it back on the shelf.

Excess Fructose from Fruits

Now, another type of sugar that we don't really think could be harmful, but if we have it in excess, it can create some symptoms and this would be excess fructose and fructose will be found in our fruits. So if your diet is really high in apples, oranges, bananas, grapes, all sorts of fruits, you may experience more bloating and more gas. These sugars really are hard to break down for the digestive system, and people with sensitive digestive systems can probably feel more symptoms.

Now, in addition to that, dried fruit can also be more harmful to our intestinal tract because if you think about eating a dried apricot versus an entire apricot that's not dried, you can pack down a lot of apricots when they're dried for sure. And with this, it increases the amount of sugars in our body, but it also can create, again, some disruptive bloating, gas, even diarrhea for some people.

Sugar Alcohols

Now, third on the list is going to be sugar alcohols and sugar alcohols. You'll also see in sugar-free products. So you may end up seeing this in a piece of gum. If you are a gum chewer, you may see sugar alcohols in protein bars. So those names of sugar alcohols will be things like mannitol, xylitol.

And if you're seeing those and you are experiencing some digestive discomfort, this can only make it worse. So a lot of times people that eat a lot of protein bars might feel like they're kind of bloaty or gassy afterward, and a lot of times this does have to do with those sugar alcohols.

What Does Sugar Do to Your Gut?

So now we know what some of the sugars do to our digestive system. We've got those artificial sugars, high fructose corn syrups. We have the high amounts of fructose in our diet or even sugar alcohols. So what are they actually doing? And what can happen?

Feeding Harmful Bacteria and Yeast Overgrowth

Number one is that it can feed harmful bacteria or overgrowth of yeast. Now, if we have a diet that's high in sugar, a lot of times our microbiome will be less diverse. And with that, we can have an overgrowth of candida. Candida is a yeast that does live in our digestive system and can easily get out of control. And when you eat a lot of sugar, those little yeast bugs will consume it all and give you a lot of symptoms, usually feeling like a lot of bloating, gas, maybe some constipation or diarrhea. But really that bloating and gas is really what you're going to see first.

Breaking Down Gut Bacteria

Now, also, the sugar can impact our gut by really breaking down that gut bacteria, which I just mentioned a moment ago. But when we have a diet that's high in sugar, we have a lot of imbalance going on. So if we're not getting those fruits and vegetables and proteins and fats that we need, then we're not having a very good diverse microbiome. The more diverse our microbiome, usually the healthier our gut is.

Impairing the Integrity of Your Intestinal Tract

Sugar can also impair the integrity of our intestinal tract. So again, diet high in sugar or excessive fruits will oftentimes break down that integrity of our intestinal tract, sort of inflaming it with this. Sometimes toxins can get into our bloodstream, which can create other symptoms. Now we call this leaky gut, and this is just another symptom of inflammation or chronic low grade inflammation going on for quite a while due to the foods that you're consuming. Now remember, if you have already an imbalanced microbiome because the diet is not quite on par or more eating more sugars, we're going to have inflammation anyway. So this is just one more symptom that can happen from that.

Chronic Inflammation and Gut Disorders

Now, another symptom of too much sugar and gut and in your gut is going to be chronic inflammation. I mentioned that just a moment ago with chronic inflammation can really cause a lot of issues, not only just the symptoms that we've already talked about, but also we can aggravate an irritable bowel or we can end up with inflammatory bowel disease and none of these or either of them are what we want.

So keeping those sugars low in the diet can support that microbiome and keep inflammation down.

Gut-Brain Axis and Mood

Now, another one that we want to talk about is the gut-brain axis. Now, with the gut brain access, what happens is that sugar really breaks down that gut bacteria, and we need good beneficial gut bacteria to make our neurotransmitters like serotonin and dopamine. So if we're not making enough of these neurotransmitters, we may end up with more mood issues, so anxiety or depression or even higher sugar cravings.

Do All Sugars Have the Same Effect on Your Gut?

So now we know what sugars are harmful, what they actually do to our gut, but you may be thinking, well, do all sugars have the same effect and no, they don't. So number one, refined sugars are going to be the worst, and then artificial sugars right after that. And then we're followed up with natural sugars. So things from fruits or honey, and these are going to be better options, just never in excess. So with fruits and honey, with the fruit, we're going to have more fiber. And with honey, we actually have a lot of natural antioxidants in it and can be pretty supportive to other systems. It's just all about how much you're consuming.

So I'm sure that none of what I've said so far is a real big surprise to you because we've talked about sugar a lot on this channel, and I'm sure you've heard it on multiple other social media sites. Sugar just is not going to be beneficial for any part of our body and especially guts. And so if you are struggling with gut issues, like I said, I'll link our website down below.

Best Practices for Maintaining a Healthy Gut

But how can you do something to protect your own gut? And number one would be increasing your fiber intake. So increasing fiber intake with vegetables and fruits and moderation. And also there's grains, whole grains that can help with fiber to keep that in your body because what it does is it helps feed our good bacteria.

In addition to that, you want to keep sugars in balance with healthy proteins and healthy fats. So making sure you're having adequate amounts of protein per day and also getting in healthy fats, the avocados, the nuts, things like nut butter or butter, those are all going to be great ways to support ourselves and support balancing out sugar intake. Also choosing more natural sweeteners. So there is the sweeteners of stevia, which you will see around a lot and also in a lot of products now. So you want to look at Stevia, but make sure it's not a mixed kind of product because sometimes if it's not pure stevia, they're going to mix other kind of sweeteners with it, and then now it becomes a sweetener that can be harmful to your gut.

You'll also find monk fruit. Monk fruit, again, is being used in a lot of different products, protein bars, sweeteners for different kinds of like if you're eating a muffin or you're making sweet breads, all of those things. Monk fruit is a natural sweetener, so again, less harmful to the gut, less impact there. And then natural sweeteners in the way of honey or pure maple syrups, those are, or fruits, right? Those are all going to be really good ways to get some sweetness into our diet without impacting our gut health. And by getting enough fiber, getting enough protein and healthy fats, also making sure you're hydrating yourself. Keeping those fluids moving is always going to be great for our entire body, but specifically our gut health.

And then lastly, which is most obvious is going to be getting rid of processed foods, getting rid of those high fructose corn syrups and artificial sugars, refined sugars. We just don't need 'em. There's so many other natural ways to get a little sweetness if you want that, that's going to be so much more beneficial for your gut health.

Now, you might be listening and thinking, yeah, well, I'm never not going to eat sugar again. And you may not. And I think that just being really mindful about what sugars you are putting in, I think is the most important thing. And of course, how often a sugary treat once a year isn't a real big deal, your gut's going to recover. But if you're eating sugar day after day, week after week, this is where we see chronic inflammation, lots of gut distress and like I said, too liver issues and you're just not going to feel good.

So I hope that this helped provide some information on really what is sugar doing to your gut, because we listen about it all the time that sugar's an issue and sugar's inflammatory, but specifically if you do have gut health issues, taking sugar out is going to be a game changer.

So thanks for listening today, and we'll see you next week.

If you'd like to explore any of this information further or obtain an individualized nutrition plan, you can schedule an initial appointment at our clinic.  We also take insurance and some of our clients get full coverage, which is great.

Or you can just start by downloading our FREE GUIDE: 5 WAYS TO IMPROVE GUT HEALTH