"nd others perceive it to be harmful due to the artificial sweeteners" People perceive a lot of things. The number of peer reviewed studies on this is astonish

"nd others perceive it to be harmful due to the artificial sweeteners" People perceive a lot of things. The number of peer reviewed studies on this is astonishing, and they have all found the same thing - they aren't harmful in any way we can possibly measure, in any sane amounts. If you feed rats ridiculous amounts of sweetener, they have issues (it's something like the equivalent of 5 gallons a day of sweetener) But if you feed rats ridiculous amounts of water, or apples, or anything "more natural", they have the same problem.