Weight Gain

• In 2010 Yale Journal of Biology and Medicine published a highly referenced review that theorized that artificial sweeteners could be related to weight gain because, among other reasons, they do not stimulate the reward pathways in the brain stimulated by real sugar, thus leading to increased sugar craving and subsequently over-consumption of calories.

Altered Gut Microbiota

• In 2014 Nature published a study which found that consumption of artificial sweeteners may cause bacteria imbalances in the gut which can lead to a pre-diabetic state known as glucose intolerance.

Weight Reduction in Children

• In 2012 The New England Journal of Medicine published an 18-month trial which compared children who consumed sugar-containing beverages with children who consumed beverages sweetened with non-caloric (artificial) sweeteners. The children who consumed the artificially sweetened beverages gained less weight.

Body Composition and Weight Loss

• In 2014 The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition published a meta-analysis which included a total of 24 studies on the effects of artificial sweeteners on body mass. The authors of the study concluded that the regular use of low-calorie sweeteners results in modest weight loss.