I find that exceedingly hard to believe. Sources, please. And I don't want a single study concluding sweeteners might affect gut biome in rats or might provoke

I find that exceedingly hard to believe. Sources, please. And I don't want a single study concluding sweeteners might affect gut biome in rats or might provoke some insulin secretion. I want serious, reputable studies claiming sweeteners are worse than sugar, a substance arguably killing more people per year than tobacco. To provide some real data to the discussion, a study analysing 36000 deaths and 3 million person-years (published by the American Heart Association) found a 21% increase in all cause mortality among those consuming 2 or more sugar sweetened beverages per day. Consuming 2 or more artificially sweetened beverages, on the other hand, was associated with only a 4% increase. And moderate consumtion of artificially sweetened beverages (< 2 per day) was actually, unlike sugar, associated with decreased mortality. [1] The way sweeteners are discussed in relation to sugar is often fear-mongering and disconnected from reality. It's like equating a sewing needle to a gun because the needle might also theoretically be dangerous in some circumstances. [1] https://www.ahajournals.org/doi/full/10.1161/CIRCULATIONAHA.118.037401 https://www.ahajournals.org/doi/full/10.1161/CIRCULATIONAHA....