Artificial sweeteners seem, on the surface, to be a simple way to reduce calorie intake, & so lose weight. On the other hand, for some time, there have been suggestions that artificial sweeteners may be implicated in weight gain.
Perhaps equally counter-intuitive, is the importance of gut bacteria in maintaining health.
Emerging evidence suggests, that artificial sweeteners may cause weight gain by their influence on gut bacteria:
http://www.economist.com/news/science-and-technology/21613311-sugar-substitutes-may-mess-gut-bacteriacausing-obesity / diet coke Coca cola Coca-Cola sucrose sugar to achieve sickly sweetness 15.9 grams can total daily intake recommended women National Health Service Diet Coke sweetness aspartame acesulfame-K chemical chemicals sweeter sugar human body energy sweetness calories artificial sweeteners food additives waistline in check chemicals food sweeteners cause cancer associated with obesity paper Nature magazine evidence artificial sweeteners humans digest microbes guts digestive tract intestine bacteria live cells researchers “microbiome” gut bacteria depression arthritis regulation immune system artificial sweeteners affect intestinal bacteria paper lead authors Eran Elinav Eran Segal Weizmann Institute of Science Israel biomedical research rodents aspartame sucralose saccharin commercial sugar substitutes control group plain water glucose sucrose sugars energy glucose obesity diabetes artificial sweeteners glucose level blood sugar murine microbiome researchers mice broad spectrum antibiotics gut bacteria metabolic changes transplanted faeces artificial sweeteners sterile conditions glucose intolerance gene sequencing make people fat /
