Artificial Sweeteners Tied to Faster Brain Aging and Decline

Dr. Joseph Mercola - Take Control of Your Health

Briana Mercola

Health & Fitness, Health, Alternative Health

4.6 • 1.5K Ratings

🗓️ 5 November 2025

⏱️ 7 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Artificial sweeteners are linked to faster memory loss and thinking decline, equal to 1.6 years of extra brain aging
People under 60 who consume the most low or no-calorie sweeteners face the steepest drop in verbal fluency and overall cognition, making midlife a key time to cut them out
Adults with diabetes are at even higher risk, with sharper declines in memory and global thinking skills when relying on artificial sweeteners and sugar substitutes
The harmful effects were consistent across years of testing, showing that continued use steadily chips away at brain function
You can protect your brain by eliminating artificial sweeteners, using natural options like fruit, honey, monk fruit, and dextrose, and focusing on foods that fuel steady energy

Transcript

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0:00.0	Are you speeding up your brains aging with something you sip every day?
0:04.0	Welcome to Dr. Mercola's cellular wisdom. Stay informed with quick, easy-to-listen
0:09.2	summaries of our latest articles, perfect for when you're on the go. No reading required.
0:13.8	Subscribe for free at Mercola.com for the latest health insights.
0:17.6	Hello and welcome to Dr. Mercola's cellular wisdom. I'm Ethan Foster, and today
0:22.8	we're looking at evidence that artificial sweeteners can erode memory, language, and thinking,
0:28.6	changes equal to more than a year of extra brain aging. I'm Alara Sky, and we're breaking down a large
0:34.5	long-term study that tracked 12,772 adults for about eight years.
0:40.7	The data link common sweeteners, like aspartame, saccharine, acetyl, acetylphame k, erythritol, sorbitol,
0:48.4	and xylitol to faster decline in verbal fluency, memory, and overall cognition with the steepest drops in people under 60.
0:57.0	Here's the core finding you need to know.
0:59.0	The highest consumers of these sweeteners experienced declines equivalent to 1.6 additional years of brain aging.
1:06.0	Even middle-range consumers saw about 1.3 years worth.
1:10.0	That's not a trivial difference.
1:11.6	That's measurable slippage in how quickly you find words, recall information, and keep up with complex tasks.
1:18.6	The age pattern matters. The average participant was 52 at the start, and the accelerated
1:24.6	decline concentrated in those younger than 60. If you're in midlife, this is a pivotal window to remove exposures
1:32.3	that chip away at your mental performance year after year.
1:35.3	There's also a clear risk signal for diabetes.
1:38.3	Adults living with diabetes had sharper drops in memory and global cognition
1:43.3	when they leaned on artificial sweeteners. That's important because many people with diabetes had sharper drops in memory and global cognition when they leaned on artificial sweeteners. That's important because many people with diabetes switched to these products assuming they're safer than sugar. The findings suggest that reliance may carry its own long-term brain cost. Not every sweetener behaved exactly the same, but most did. Aspartame, saccharine, acesulfame
2:03.5	K, erythritol, sorbitol, and xylitol were each associated with faster decline. Tagatose
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