“Using artificial sweeteners” vs “not using artificial sweeteners” doesn’t really tell you much. I mean it makes sense that people who use artificial sweeteners

“Using artificial sweeteners” vs “not using artificial sweeteners” doesn’t really tell you much. I mean it makes sense that people who use artificial sweeteners would have more excess mass since people who are dealing with that would seek artificial sweeteners in the first place. If you’re feeling fine about your weight you won’t bother with artificial sweeteners. What would be interesting is if people who replaced the calories they ate that came from sugar with artificial sweeteners that are effectively no calorie and still had a greater increase in stored mass. That said; the chance of a properly controlled food study is astronomical as you’d have to control people’s diets in near totality, for a large enough sample size, across years, which no one would agree to unless you planned to cover or subsidize their food costs over that time.