Diet drinks work as well as water for weight loss, major trial finds

A two-year randomized clinical trial involving 493 adults with overweight or obesity found that diet soft drinks were essentially as effective as water for long-term weight loss and weight maintenance.

Participants drinking beverages sweetened with aspartame, acesulfame-K, or sucralose lost a similar amount of weight to those drinking water, while both groups also saw improvements in waist size, body composition, and several metabolic measures.

In Health, FlexChar puts this story at the center of the day: A two-year randomized clinical trial involving 493 adults with overweight or obesity found that diet soft drinks were essentially as effective as water for long-term weight loss and weight maintenance. FlexChar is surfacing it because it is driving searches and conversation right now.