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Pooled review (meta-analysis)

Pooled review of 29 trials found sweeteners did not clearly change blood sugar

Nichol and colleagues · European journal of clinical nutrition · 2018

Original title: Glycemic impact of non-nutritive sweeteners: a systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials.

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

No difference

Sweetener use did not raise blood sugar, and levels gradually declined after use. Effect did not differ by sweetener type.

The study at a glance

Type of study
Pooled review (meta-analysis)
Who or what was studied
29 studies, 741 people · people in 29 trials, mixed ages, weights and diabetes status
What was tested
Aspartame, saccharin, stevioside or sucralose, compared with baseline blood sugar
What it measured
Lab tests or markers
Who has a stake
No disclosure in PubMed
No disclosure in PubMed.
Journal
European journal of clinical nutrition, 2018
Source
PubMed record 29760482. This page is based on the abstract only.

How much this study counts

  • ✓Pools the results of 29 studies with 741 people.
  • •A pooled review is only as strong as the studies it pools.
  • –Measured lab tests or markers, which stand in for body weight and metabolic health. A better marker does not always mean better 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

This paper is not on the ladder. It is a pooled review (meta-analysis), and reviews and opinion pieces discuss studies that are already counted on the steps below.

↑ Stronger evidence

  1. Trials in people: body weight

    4

    1 benefit, 1 mixed, 2 no difference

  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

Other reviews on this question

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 reviewer corrected 1 field after reading the abstract. 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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