Health Claims

Women of all menopausal stages seem to be exposed to artificial sweeteners at similar levels, but finding sucralose in urine might be linked to breast cancer only in women who haven't gone through menopause yet — maybe because hormones play a role in how it affects the body.

Among middle-aged women in a big health study, the artificial sweetener saccharine shows up the most in their urine — making up over two-thirds of all sweetener exposure — followed by a natural sweetener from stevia.

If sucralose shows up in a woman's pee, she might be more likely to get breast cancer before menopause — especially if she's in her middle years — but the data isn't super strong yet.

In a long-term study of middle-aged women, having artificial sweeteners in their urine — like those in diet sodas — didn't increase their chances of getting breast cancer.

You'd have to drink way too many diet sodas or eat an impossible amount of sugar-free food to actually go over the safe limit for artificial sweeteners.

Big health agencies say sweeteners like aspartame are safe to eat as long as you don’t go over the daily limit they’ve set.

Artificial sweeteners might cause cell damage in lab and animal studies, but only when used in amounts way higher than people normally consume or what's considered safe.

Eating a lot of artificial sweeteners might be linked to a higher chance of getting liver or breast cancer in some people, but scientists aren't sure because different studies have found different things.

Eating artificial sweeteners like aspartame or monk fruit in normal amounts probably won’t raise your cancer risk, but we’re still not completely sure about the long-term effects.

Eating more aspartame doesn’t seem to increase cancer risk in a predictable way, so if there’s any link, it’s probably because of other factors — not because aspartame directly causes cancer.

Drinking diet drinks with aspartame might be linked to a higher chance of certain cancers in older Americans, especially in the gut and reproductive organs, but it doesn’t seem to matter if someone is already overweight, and more aspartame doesn’t clearly mean higher risk.

Drinking diet drinks with aspartame might be linked to a higher chance of getting cancer, according to a big study of U.S. adults — but we can't say for sure it's the aspartame causing it.

The main reason intermittent fasting might be better than cutting calories all the time is that people find it easier to stick with, not because it boosts metabolism more.

Some people find it easier to stick to time-restricted eating — like only eating during an 8-hour window — than to cutting calories every day.

If you eat the same number of calories and protein, fasting every now and then works just as well for losing weight as eating less every day.

Some artificial sweeteners with no calories might raise your chances of having a stroke.

Some artificial sweeteners with no calories might raise your chances of having a heart attack.

Some artificial sweeteners with no calories might raise your chances of getting cancer.

Setting blood flow restriction pressure based on a person's own limb size and fitness level might work better than using the same pressure for everyone.

Changing the type of blood flow training you do during different parts of your sports season—like using one kind when getting ready, another during competition, and a lighter version when winding down—might help you get stronger and stay safer, but we’re not totally sure yet because there hasn’t been enough solid research.

Doing a mix of heavy lifting and light lifting with restricted blood flow—switching between them each week—might help your muscles recover faster and grow bigger, especially the powerful ones used in sports.

Doing heavy weights followed by light weights with restricted blood flow might help power athletes build more muscle by keeping muscle growth signals turned on longer.

Doing light weightlifting with special cuffs that limit blood flow might still help endurance muscles grow in athletes, thanks to chemical changes in the muscle — and it could be easier on the joints than heavy lifting, especially during recovery or sports season.

Your brain and how tired your body gets during weight training might affect how much your muscles grow — so it's not just about the muscles themselves.