Long-term metabolic effects of non-nutritive sweeteners

If you swap sugary foods and drinks for ones with artificial sweeteners, your body might burn more calories than you take in, causing you to lose fat and feel healthier in ways that matter for your heart and metabolism.

When mice on a fatty diet drank a sweetener called Reb M instead of water or sugar water, their bodies handled insulin better—meaning their blood sugar stayed more under control without making more insulin.

When male mice eat a fatty diet and drink something called Reb M instead of water or sugar water, their gut bacteria called Lachnospiraceae grow more, and they have more butyrate in their blood — a chemical that’s good for gut health.

When male mice of a common lab breed drank aspartame instead of water for a long time, their blood sugar took longer to go back down after eating, meaning their bodies didn’t handle sugar as well.

When mice on a fatty diet drank sucralose instead of fructose, they became more sensitive to insulin and gained less weight—but they didn’t do any better than mice that just drank water.

When male mice of a common lab breed ate food with artificial sweeteners instead of plain water for a long time, they didn’t gain more or less weight, fat, or muscle, and they ate about the same amount of food as mice that only drank water.