Zero-sugar drinks now take up half the cooler.
They really are zero calories — but does that mean drink freely?
The sweeteners are not interchangeable
- •Aspartame — 200× sweeter than sugar. It does have calories, but the amounts used are so small it rounds to zero
- •Sucralose — 600×, heat-stable, so it survives cooking
- •Acesulfame K — 200×, usually blended with others to mask the aftertaste
- •Stevia — plant-derived, 200–300×
- •Erythritol — a sugar alcohol, about 70% as sweet, nearly calorie-free
- •Allulose — a rare sugar, about 70% as sweet and barely absorbed
Do they help with weight?
Swapping a sugar drink for a sweetened one removes those calories. That much is clear.
A can of cola is 140 kcal, so one swap a day is 4,200 kcal a month.
But the sweetener itself does not cause weight loss.
If "it's zero" becomes permission to eat more elsewhere, it cancels out on the spot.
Zero drinks earn their place by replacing sugary ones. Replacing water gains you nothing.
What about safety?
In 2023 the WHO's cancer agency classified aspartame as "possibly carcinogenic to humans" (Group 2B).
The same year, the joint WHO/FAO expert committee left the acceptable daily intake unchanged. Two announcements at once caused a lot of confusion.
- •Group 2B means the evidence is limited — not that the risk is large
- •The acceptable daily intake is 40 mg per kg of body weight. At 60 kg that is about 12 cans of diet cola
- •At everyday intakes, the existing assessment stands
Sugar alcohols like erythritol and allulose cause cramping and diarrhoea in quantity. Do not stack several servings at once.
How to actually use them
- •Treat them as a bridge off sugary drinks. The destination is water
- •Your taste for sweetness stays intact — dialling that down is the next step
- •Do not let a zero label become a reason to have more. That is the usual trap
- •For coffee, going from two spoons to one to none beats switching to sweetener
“Zero is a better choice than sugar. It is not a better choice than water.”