Artificial sweeteners might be bad for your health in the long run, so we should use them carefully, know what we're eating, have stricter rules, and do more studies to figure out how to stay safe.

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.

Scientists test artificial sweeteners on animals using way more than humans would ever eat, then say it’s safe for people by dividing that huge dose by 100—but that doesn’t match how much people actually consume.

People who already have health issues like obesity or diabetes often switch to artificial sweeteners to help manage their condition—so when studies see that sweetener users have worse health, it might not be because the sweeteners caused the problem, but because people with the problem chose the sweeteners.

Eating too many sugar-free sweeteners might be linked to health problems like weight gain, heart disease, diabetes, some cancers, bad pregnancy results, and seizures in sensitive people.

People who drink diet sodas and other artificially sweetened drinks may be more likely to have a stroke, heart disease, or even die sooner — even if they’re not overweight or don’t smoke.