I noticed in the Clever Guts book, Dr. Mosley recommended to avoid sweeteners. Having a bit of a sweet tooth, I have sourced out pure 100% stevia powder from South Australia. This varies greatly from the supermarket brand, claiming it’s a 100% pure stevia, containing other chemicals. Am I on the right track using the 100% pure powder as a sweetener?

Love the book.

Well, yes and no! Trouble is none of the artificial sweeteners are ideal, albeit stevia is probably the worst of a bad bunch. Various reasons but, by way of example: the intense sweetness of the sweetner will produce an insulin spike because when the sweetness hits the tongue, the brain anticipates a sugar rush and increased insulin secretion. Raised Insulin/insulin resistance is the key to type2 diabetes. Raised insulin put the body into “fat storage mode” so you are likely to store more and burn less. Also, at least some of the artificial sweeteners mess with the microbiome!

Thanks Graham for your reply. It all gets a bit confusing, because when I looked up on “the pure stevia site” they claim many health benefits, & I am a Type2 diabetic. I’ll go without!

There may be links between gut dysbiosis with cravings for sweet things, basically the ‘bad guys’ are demanding unhealthy foods. Dr Mosley recommends retraining our tastebuds rather than substituting artificial sweeteners or fruit purees/ extracts for table sugar.

There is a HUGE amount of misinformation, pseudoscience and quackery on the internet: FAR more fiction than fact, much of it trying to lighten your wallet. Stick with reputable, independent websites such as universities, registration bodies for health professionals, the UK National Health Service, the public health arm of major governments, charities for relevant health conditions and so on.

HTH!