Yes from the panel and yes from me.

Forget the chemical effects of artificial sweeteners for a minute. That gets debated over and over.

Those who drink artificially sweetened drinks on average take in more calories from other food than those who don’t. The reason is uncertain but articles I have come across suggest it may be related to reward behaviour or changes in the gut and bowel organisms.

I still see these artificial sweeteners as a ‘tool’ to coming off the sugars – a bit like methadone for coming off cocaine.

The risk of developing Diabetes seems to be higher with soft drink consumption, both for standard soft drink as well as artificially sweetened drinks.

http://time.com/3628546/diet-soda-bad-for-you/

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24432876

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24932880

Food tricks to get off the sugar at http://www.nofructose.com/food-ideas/food-tricks/