Diabetes rose with sweetener use, and the arrow may run both ways
Among 105,600 French adults followed about nine years, the heaviest sweetener users developed type 2 diabetes 69% more often than those who used none.
What the study found
Heaviest sweetener users had 69% more type 2 diabetes
Among roughly 105,600 French adults followed for about nine years, the heaviest artificial-sweetener consumers developed type 2 diabetes 69% more often than those who used none. The risk climbed with the amount consumed, for aspartame and acesulfame potassium alike.
The caveat · Users may switch before a diagnosis
This followed what people already consumed rather than assigning it, so the arrow could run the other way: someone watching their blood sugar has good reason to switch to sweeteners well before a diagnosis arrives. Intake came from participants' own repeated diet diaries. And these are the same participants and the same diaries behind the cancer finding, so the two results are not independent of each other.
What we don't know
This followed what people already consumed rather than assigning it, so the arrow could run the other way: someone watching their blood sugar has good reason to switch to sweeteners well before a diagnosis arrives. Intake came from participants' own repeated diet diaries. And these are the same participants and the same diaries behind the cancer finding, so the two results are not independent of each other.