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While Glamour magazine featured the most common fermented healthy foods in a January 25 2024 article (top 5 are Greek yogurt, kefir, miso, kimchi, and sauerkraut)(1), Eating Well (January 27 2024 issue) recommends roasted salmon (omega-3 fatty acids), smokey chickpea, greens (antioxidants) with quinoa, wild rice or barley (prebiotic fiber), as the ideal gut friendly meal combination, according to Diana Mesa, RD, CDCES, founder and owner of En La Mesa Nutrition (2).

However, keeping a sugar-free diet is the key to staying healthy in the sugar-intensive diet of the U.S.

Stevia is believed to be among the healthiest non-sugar sweeteners primarily because it is derived from a common plant you can grow in your backyard.

Stevia is a non- nutritive sweetener (NNS) that has demonstrated beneficial effects on appetite and energy intake. A January 18 2024 clinical study of 28 participants published in Nutrients found no significant effects on our gut microbiome when consuming the natural sweetener Stevia (3).

The study showed a decrease in Akkermansia (gut lining) and an increase in Faecalibacterium. However, the only genus significantly different at 12 weeks was Butyricoccus, another gut-lining, butyrate-producing species (4). For people with gut lining/ intestinal disorders such as IBS and obesity, this may be cause for caution.