To avoid diabetes, you take sugar-free drinks frequently. Know how it damages the liver?

News Topical, Digital Desk : These days, whenever we enter a store, our first attention goes to items labeled sugar-free, low-calorie, or guilt-free. We assume that if there's no sugar, it's automatically good for health. Fearing diabetes or to maintain weight, people have started replacing regular sugar with sugar-free sweets, biscuits, chewing gum, protein bars, and diet drinks. But the question is: is sugar-free really completely safe, or are we unknowingly harming our bodies, especially our livers? So, let's find out how consuming sugar-free repeatedly to prevent diabetes can damage our livers. 

Diabetes and the growing trend of sugar-free

Diabetes is spreading rapidly in today's lifestyle. According to 2024 data from the US CDC, approximately 38.4 million people suffer from diabetes, and surprisingly, approximately 8.7 million people are not even aware that they have diabetes. In such a situation, people think that if they give up sugar and adopt sugar-free products, they will be safe. Therefore, sweeteners like aspartame, sucralose and sugar alcohols are being used in place of refined sugar. One of these is sorbitol. 

What is sorbitol?

Sorbitol is a sugar alcohol used in low-calorie and sugar-free products. It's commonly found in sugar-free chewing gum, protein bars, low-calorie snacks, cough syrups, some medications, and certain fruits (such as apples and pears). Until now, sorbitol has been considered a better and safer alternative to sugar, but this is now being questioned. 

How does it damage the liver?

Scientists at Washington University in St. Louis, USA, recently conducted a significant study, published in the prestigious journal Science Signaling. The research was led by Dr. Gary Petty. His team has already proven that fructose (a type of sugar) can harm the liver, promoting fatty liver and even cancer cells. In this new study, scientists found that sorbitol is just one step away from fructose and can cause the same damage in the body as fructose. 

What does sorbitol do in the body?

According to research, when we eat food, glucose (sugar) increases in our body. This glucose can be converted into sorbitol in the intestine. Sorbitol then travels from the intestine to the liver, where it is converted into fructose, and this is where the problem begins. Fructose is considered a major cause of fatty liver disease, which affects approximately 30 percent of adults worldwide. 

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