Artificial Sweeteners Elicit Same Response in Gut as Water

I am often asked about the safety and side effects of using artificial sweeteners. I prefer people stay away from them, as well as added sugars in general... however, there is no good research showing that the use of artificial sweeteners has negative health implications. I always caution the use of excess, and state that there is no research on the long-term health consequences of prolonged use, since they haven't been around that long. My rule is to try to limit the use of them to 3 "diet" products a day (eg: no more than 3 splendas, or no more than 2 splenda + 1, 8-oz glass of diet iced tea).

A new study out shows that the gut seems to respond to artificial sweeteners the same as water:

http://www.foodnavigator.com/Science-Nutrition/Gut-reaction-Zero-calorie-sweeteners-produce-same-response-as-water