"Soft drinks made with artificial sweeteners, such as diet colas, do not help people lose weight and may be as big a part of the obesity problem as the full-sugar versions," The Guardian reports.
While the headline may sound definitive, this was the conclusion of an opinion piece (or narrative review), not evidence based on new research.
The big food and drink manufactures have responded to increasing concerns about the impact of sugar-sweetened beverages on health, such as increasing rates of tooth decay and type 2 diabetes, by promoting artificially sweetened drinks as a healthy alternative.
However, recent evidence suggests these may not actually be a better option, and this review wanted to look into this further.
The review argues that artificially sweetened drinks are just as bad as sugar sweetened drinks and says that the national dietary guidance shouldn't recommend consumption of artificially sweetened drinks as an alternative.
The review concludes there is an "absence of consistent evidence" that artificially sweetened drinks can improve health outcomes such as helping people achieve a healthy body weight. But absence of evidence is not the same as evidence of absence. Due to the unsystematic nature of the review we can't be sure all relevant evidence was considered.