Research
Adherence
Aspartame and other non-nutritive sweeteners (NNS) do not promote weight gain, contrary to common belief that they stimulate appetite or cause metabolic harm.
If you use aspartame, don't worry about it causing weight gain. It does not appear to trigger the compensatory eating that some fear.
ModerateRefutesMEDIUM confidence
aspartame does not promote weight gain
Why this rating
The paper states 'aspartame does not promote weight gain' but provides less detailed mechanistic evidence compared to SFA and SSB, noting 'challenges involved in conducting and interpreting clinical nutritional research'.
Source
Pathways and mechanisms linking dietary components to cardiometabolic disease: thinking beyond calories
Kimber L. Stanhope et al. · Obesity Reviews · 2018
DOI 10.1111/obr.12699
narrative_reviewCited 85×
Read the paper DOI resolved against Crossref · corpus check 2026-06-10
More from this paper
- Replacing saturated fatty acids (SFA) with polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA) reduces cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk, whereas replacing SFA with refined carbohydrates (starches and sugars) has a neutral or adverse effect on CVD risk.Good
- Sugar-sweetened beverages (SSB) promote cardiometabolic disease and obesity through mechanisms beyond simple caloric excess, including specific metabolic effects of fructose and promotion of de novo lipogenesis.Good
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This is one finding among thousands. Every one is graded and traced to its source, so you can see what the evidence actually supports. Browse the research →