Using sugar substitutes like stevia or aspartame doesn’t make you more likely to have bad health effects than eating sugar, drinking water, or taking a fake pill—so they’re probably safe if you’re trying to lose weight.

When people eat or drink things with low-calorie sweeteners like they normally do, studies show it doesn’t hurt their health.

Several official health groups have looked at lots of science studies over and over, and they all agree that artificial sweeteners won’t hurt you if you eat or drink them in normal amounts.

Using sugar-free sweeteners doesn’t make you eat more fat or protein than if you used regular sugar or just drank water—so their main job is just to cut down carbs and calories.

Even if you have existing health issues like diabetes, studies show that drinking diet soda or eating foods with artificial sweeteners doesn’t seem to make your health worse.

Drinking diet soda instead of water doesn’t make you eat fewer calories — it only helps cut calories if you’re swapping it for sugary drinks instead.