Sweet Conspiracies Go Mainstream with Early Puberty

Sweet Conspiracies Go Mainstream with Early Puberty

In the world of functional medicine, we try to listen to all the evidence regardless of where it comes from, including the mainstream groups like the Endocrine Society- and now they assert that some artificial sweeteners contribute to early puberty. While we sometimes have to take such groups with a grain of sea salt, remembering their past propaganda, they often have to admit that we were right in some of our ‘conspiracy theories.’  In this case, their recent big yearly conference presented findings showing that aspartame, sucralose and glycyrrhizin push some kids to enter puberty earlier.

Puberty, a time of life when changes are the norm, will arrive sooner or later unless some medical condition prevents it. Multiple hormones and processes contribute to the development from childhood to physical adulthood over a span of a year or two.  Disruptions in one or more of these processes can not only change the timing of that process but set other lifelong metabolic changes into motion. These metabolic changes can increase the risk of other chronic health conditions like heart disease and diabetes.

As our society attempts to push back against the growing epidemic of obesity with its adverse effects on our health, artificial sweeteners have become a “go-to” options for those who want to lower their calorie intake or go keto. The “calories in versus calories out” theory leads many to think that such fake sweeteners will be their ticket to indulge their sweet tooth without the long-term consequences. This study argues against that plan.

Researchers looked at the Taiwan Pubertal Longitudinal Study which began in 2018 in which over 1400 teens were followed with 481 developed a condition called ‘central precocious puberty.’  They also looked at these teen’s genetics in regard to their risk for this condition.  They found that boys and girls had different risks with different sweeteners.  In boys, sucralose increased the rates of precocious puberty while girls were affected by not only sucralose, but also glyzyrrhizin and regular sugars.

The lead author’s previous research had linked the effects of these sweeteners with specific mechanisms altering hormones.  He had reported that acesulfame potassium could trigger the release of puberty type hormones and that glyzyrrhizin could alter gut bacteria and alter genes affecting puberty.

With all this in mind, we encourage all of our patients to at least limit, if not outright avoid all intake of these artificial sweeteners.  Other studies indicating their adverse long-term effects had already alerted us to other problems, but this study provides further support for our advice to our patients’ parents.  Helping all our children look forward to healthier, more abundant lives requires optimizing their pubertal development through simple dietary interventions.

 

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Thanks to Science Daily:

The Endocrine Society. “Sweet but risky: Common sweeteners may be accelerating puberty in kids.” ScienceDaily. ScienceDaily, 15 July 2025. www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2025/07/250714052231.htm[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row]

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Sanctuary Functional Medicine, under the direction of Dr Eric Potter, IFMCP MD, provides functional medicine services to Nashville, Middle Tennessee and beyond. We frequently treat patients from Kentucky, Alabama, Mississippi, Georgia, Ohio, Indiana, and more... offering the hope of healthier more abundant lives to those with chronic illness.