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Randomized trial · measured the question itself

1-year trial in 303 adults: diet drinks kept off more weight than water

Peters and colleagues · Obesity (Silver Spring, Md.) · 2016

Original title: The effects of water and non-nutritive sweetened beverages on weight loss and weight maintenance: A randomized clinical trial.

Under review. A person has not yet checked this summary against the paper. It is written from the PubMed abstract. Until a person checks it, search engines are asked not to list this page.

What the study found

Points to benefit

At 1 year the water group kept off 2.45 ± 5.59 kg and the diet drink group 6.21 ± 7.65 kg (P < 0.001 for difference).

The study at a glance

Type of study
Randomized trial
Who or what was studied
303 people · 303 weight-stable adults with overweight or obesity, in a weight loss program
What was tested
24 ounces (710 ml) a day of diet drinks or water for 1 year
What it measured
The question itself: body weight and metabolic health
Daily amount
24 oz a day
How long
52 weeks
Who has a stake
No disclosure in PubMed
No disclosure in PubMed.
Journal
Obesity (Silver Spring, Md.), 2016
Source
PubMed record 26708700. This page is based on the abstract only.

How much this study counts

  • ✓Randomized: people were put into groups by chance, so the groups start out alike.
  • ✓Large: 303 people.
  • ✓Long: about 1 year.
  • ✓Measured the question itself: body weight and metabolic health.
  • •The PubMed record has no conflict-of-interest statement.
  • •Summarized from the PubMed abstract only. The full paper may hold details the abstract leaves out.

✓ Strength– Limit• Note

These points come from fixed rules about the type of study, its size and length, what it measured, and who has a stake. Every study on Digestery gets the same rules.

Where this study sits

Each dot is one on-topic paper on this question. Steps near the top answer the question more directly.

↑ Stronger evidence

  1. Trials in people: body weight

    4

    1 benefit, 1 mixed, 2 no difference

    ↑ This study is the ringed dot

  2. Trials in people: other measures

    0

    None among the papers we read.

  3. Trials in people: lab tests or safety

    7

    1 benefit, 1 mixed, 4 no difference, 1 harm

  4. Population studies

    5

    1 benefit, 4 harm

  5. Blood levels and genes

    1

    1 harm

↓ Weaker evidence

  • Points to benefit
  • Mixed
  • No difference
  • No direction
  • Points to harm

How it fits with the other research

The short answer to “Do artificial sweeteners cause weight gain?”

Trials say no; population studies disagree.

Confidence: low. Based on 32 on-topic papers.

Read the full answer

Of the other 3 papers on the same step: 1 mixed, 2 no difference. This one found benefit. It differs from most of them.

Other papers on the same step

See all 32 studies on this question

How this page was made

Label

First read of the abstract
Claude Sonnet
Independent second read
Claude Haiku
Differences settled
The two reads differed. The reviewer checked the abstract and kept the first read. Claude Opus 5.5.
Headline
Claude Sonnet, from the checked study record. A script checked its numbers and wording.
Numbers
Checked against the abstract by a script
“How much this study counts”
Fixed rules, the same for every study
Source check by a person
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