Artificial Sweetners' Harm

From Naked Capitalism

And there is evidence of harm. Diet soda drinkers (and that is overwhelmingly aspartame, although some use sucralose or stevia) :


A new study published in the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society found that people who drank diet soda gained almost triple the abdominal fat over a nine-year period as those who didn’t drink diet soda. The study analyzed 749 individuals 65 and older and were asked every few years how many cans of soda they drank every day and how many of those cans were diet or regular.

After researchers adjusted for factors such as diabetes, smoking and levels of physical activity, the study found that soda was a major factor in abdominal-fat gain. Participants of the study who did not drink diet soda gained about 0.8 inches around their waists, but those who drank diet soda gained 3.2 inches around their waist. Occasional soda drinkers gained about 1.8 inches.

https://communitycare.com/new-study-links-diet-soda-to-weight-gain-and-belly-fat-asp/

The WHO deems aspartame as possibly carcinogenic and recommend watching daily intake:

Assessments of the health impacts of the non-sugar sweetener aspartame are released today by the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) and the World Health Organization (WHO) and the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) Joint Expert Committee on Food Additives (JECFA). Citing “limited evidence” for carcinogenicity in humans, IARC classified aspartame as possibly carcinogenic to humans (IARC Group 2B) and JECFA reaffirmed the acceptable daily intake of 40 mg/kg body weight.

https://www.who.int/news/item/14-07-2023-aspartame-hazard-and-risk-assessment-results-released