Rolls indicated that substituted carbohydrates do not offer any special advantage to the consumer for controlling appetite.

Anderson, 1995, provided evidence that ingestion of ≥50g of sugar within 20 to 60 minutes of a meal resulted in reduced mealtime food intake, which suggests that appetite regulatory centers respond to sugar's energy content. If sugars are replaced by a non-caloric sweetener, the regulatory centers will not respond in the absence of energy.

Naismith showed that an intervention with the substitution of artificial sweeteners for sugar caused an increase of 11% in total fat intake.

Lissner concluded that five studies on caloric dilution appear to indicate that reducing fat intake may be a more effective strategy for weight loss than consuming artificially sweetened foods and beverages.

Stellman et al, an epidemiological study, indicated that women who used artificial sweeteners tended to gain a little more weight over the course of one year than those who did not. The interpretation of these data is not easy and it should not be inferred that artificial sweeteners cause weight gain.

Colditz GA et al, 1990, a Nurses Health Study cohort, showed saccharin was the only dietary component significantly related to weight change in the same direction, both retrospectively and prospectively.

Kanders et al, 1990, showed females lost more weight when sweeteners were included, but male subjects lost less. Weight changes were not significant.

In Blackburn et al, 1993, during 19 weeks on a balanced-deficit diet, women were randomly assigned to either consume or abstain from aspartame-sweeetned foods or beverages. Participants were encouraged to continue with these dietary recommendations for the 2.5-year maintenance phase. Women in both treatment groups lost about 10% of body weight (9kg) during the 19-week treatment phase. However, during maintenance, the aspartame group regained less weight than the no-aspartame group.

Rogers et al, 1989 and De graaf et al, 1993, showed that under certain studies, sweet and non-sweet foods (equal in energy) do exert different effects on hunger and food intake.

Mattes et al, 1990, compared the effects of equicaloric breakfast sweetened with aspartame or sucrose with an unsweetened breakfast. Analysis of subsequent food intake (lunch, dinner, snacks) indicated a significant breakfast cereal x meal interaction. Post hoc tests indicated that lunch and dinner meals were significantly larger following the aspartame cereal than after either the plain or sucrose-sweetened cereal. This effect was greater in subjects who knew the composition of the breakfasts. Since under normal conditions consumers are usually aware of whether a product contains a low-energy sweetener substitute or not, such a response could well help to undermine self-imposed dietary control. The present data raise questions regarding the potential efficacy of aspartame as an aid in weight-management regimes.