Hidden Link Between Artificial Sweeteners and Chronic Pain
If you're living with chronic back or neck pain, you've probably experimented with everything—stretches, heating pads, over-the-counter medications. But have you thought about the impact your diet drinks and “sugar-free” snacks may have? Developing research suggests that artificial sweeteners might be sabotaging your pain relief efforts through an unexpected pathway: your gut. Old Mill Chiropractic is here to explore any possible avenues to help you get back to enjoying your life!
THE GUT-PAIN CONNECTION
Your gut isn't just responsible for digestion—it's home to trillions of microorganisms that impact inflammation throughout your entire body, including your spine and neck. Recent groundbreaking research has revealed a direct link between artificial sweeteners, gut health, and chronic pain sensitivity.
A 2025 Mendelian randomization study by Zhao and colleagues demonstrated that artificially sweetened foods can truly cause chronic pain by disrupting the gut microbiota. (1) This isn't just correlation—the research shows a causal relationship between consuming these sweeteners and higher pain levels.
HOW SWEETNERS TRIGGER PAIN
When you consume artificial sweeteners, they revise the composition of your gut bacteria. These disturbed microbes generate 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 affecting immune responses and how sensitive your nerves become. (2)
For back and neck pain sufferers seeking help at Old Mill Chiropractic, this inflammation can heighten pain sensitivity in already vulnerable areas. Your spinal nerves become more reactive, making existing discomfort worse and potentially slowing your recovery.
TAKING ACTION
Before you see us again, you might want to look into whether artificial sweeteners are affecting your pain levels. Consider attempting a two-week experiment where you reduce or swap out products that have artificial sweeteners. This could require choosing water or herbal tea instead of diet sodas, or opting for snacks without ingredients like aspartame, sucralose, and saccharin.
Chiropractic physicians understand that pain management demands a whole-body approach. While spinal adjustments focus on mechanical dysfunction, reducing inflammation through dietary modifications can significantly raise treatment outcomes. By sustaining your gut health, you're making an internal environment more advantageous to healing and less receptive to pain signals. Little dietary changes might be a great addition to your pain relief strategy with Old Mill Chiropractic.
Your way to back pain relief and/or neck pain relief may start with what you don’t put into your shopping cart.
CONTACT Old Mill Chiropractic
Listen to this PODCAST with Dr. James Cox, on The Back Doctors Podcast with Dr. Michael Johnson as he illustrates the impact inflammation has on the immune system and the benefit of chiropractic care like The Cox® Technic System of Spinal Pain Management that St Peters chiropractic patients may experience.
