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Systematic review

Review of sweeteners, fatty liver and insulin resistance raised concerns about artificial ones

Kakleas and colleagues · Expert review of endocrinology & metabolism · 2020

Original title: Nonalcoholic fatty liver disease, insulin resistance, and sweeteners: a literature review.

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 harm

Authors conclude artificial sweeteners, because of their effect on fatty liver and insulin resistance, are not indicated in patients with obesity or diabetes. Natural sweeteners such as stevia may be protective.

The study at a glance

Type of study
Systematic review
Who or what was studied
people who use sweeteners for weight loss or blood sugar control
What was tested
Review of artificial and natural sweeteners, fatty liver and insulin resistance
What it measured
Several kinds of outcomes
Who has a stake
No disclosure in PubMed
No disclosure in PubMed.
Journal
Expert review of endocrinology & metabolism, 2020
Source
PubMed record 32212870. This page is based on the abstract only.

How much this study counts

  • •Sums up studies found with a set search method, without pooling the numbers.
  • •Measured several kinds of outcomes.
  • •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 systematic review, 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
  • Listed with the other papers, but not quoted in the page’s main findings.

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 2 fields 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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