Research
Micronutrients & recovery
Non-nutritive sweeteners are less acidogenic than sugar and may increase oral pH, potentially reducing the risk of dental caries.
If you are concerned about tooth decay, switching from sugar-sweetened drinks to those with non-nutritive sweeteners is a beneficial change. The research indicates that NNSs produce less acid in the mouth than sugar, leading to a higher oral pH which is protective against cavities.
GoodSupportsHIGH confidence
all other studies described a less acidogenic (increased) oral pH after the intervention as compared to the sugar-containing control.
Why this rating
Based on 16 intervention studies (14 RCTs, 2 non-RCTs) showing consistent results on pH.
Source
Health outcomes of non-nutritive sweeteners: analysis of the research landscape
Szimonetta Lohner et al. · Nutrition Journal · 2017
DOI 10.1186/s12937-017-0278-x
narrative_reviewCited 188×
Read the paper DOI resolved against Crossref · corpus check 2026-06-10
More from this paper
- There is no conclusive evidence linking non-nutritive sweetener consumption to chronic kidney disease in high-risk patients, although some individual studies show positive associations.Moderate
- Regular consumption of non-nutritive sweeteners (NNS) does not have conclusive evidence for beneficial or harmful effects on major health outcomes including appetite, short-term food intake, cancer risk, diabetes risk, dental caries, weight gain, or obesity in healthy subjects.Limited
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