Because there is a correlation, does not imply causality.
For example, I have found that wearing XXL size clothes is highly correlated with being obese. Must be something in the material the clothes are made of, or maybe they spray some “big company evil” chemicals secretly on the clothes to make people fat.
Nope, It turns out that people overweight TEND to consume “diet” sodas, in a vain attempt to loose weight. Not suprisingly, by “gaming” the situation (rather than reduce their intake of “food”) they continue to get fatter......
What’s next, a federal study on elephant repellants? I saw a guy blowing a horn one time, and I asked him why he was blowing this horn out in the middle of the woods.....he smiled, and said, it scares away elephants! I said he was silly, that it didn’t work.....he just replied.....seen any elephants lately?
I bet that guy has a Gubmint grant now.....On Global Warming probably....
I know that I’m way late into this debate, but I wonder: Were the rats in the study allowed to feed freely or were they given the same chow as the controls in the same amounts only with the addition of sweetener?
I think that all the criticism revolving around the human studies is correct, but the rats may back this theory up. They weren’t eating the sweetener and fooling themselves into thinking that they could eat more.
If they were free-feeding, then the sweetener could be causing an increase in appetite. If the food amounts were controlled, then the sweetener could be causing the increase in fat all by itself.