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.

65

Pro

0

Against

Evidence from Studies

Supporting (1)

65

Community contributions welcome

65

The effects of non-nutritive sweeteners on energy and macronutrients intake in adults: a grade-assessed systematic review and meta-analyses of randomized controlled trials

Systematic Review With Meta-Analysis

Human

2024

When people drink things with artificial sweeteners instead of water, they don’t eat fewer calories — but when they swap sugary drinks for sweeteners, they do eat fewer calories. So the sweeteners only help cut calories when replacing sugar, not just any drink.

Contradicting (0)

0

Community contributions welcome

No contradicting evidence found

Gold Standard Evidence Needed

According to GRADE and EBM methodology, here is what ideal scientific evidence would look like to definitively prove or disprove this specific claim, ordered from strongest to weakest evidence.

Source Study

The effects of non-nutritive sweeteners on energy and macronutrients intake in adults: a grade-assessed systematic review and meta-analyses of randomized controlled trials

Score: 65

DOI: 10.3389/fnut.2024.1475962

Similar Assertions

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.

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0

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If you swap sugar for artificial sweeteners, you’ll eat less sugar—by a lot—but if you drink water instead, you get the same low sugar intake, so the sweeteners don’t help any more than water does.

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If you swap out sugary drinks and snacks for ones with artificial sweeteners, you might eat about 175 fewer calories a day, which could help you manage your weight.

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If you swap sugary foods and drinks for ones with artificial sweeteners, you might lose about 1 kg and eat fewer calories—especially if you cut out a lot of sugar. But this only works if you’re replacing sugar, not just adding sweeteners on top.

53

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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.

53

0

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