[narag]

Doesn't the risk of being overweight completely overwhelm the risk of a not-yet-understood gut flora change?

If you put me in that dilemma, I would choose the artificial sweeteners every single time. So yes. Diets are difficult enough.

But...

Although I distrust all the studies that seem to nudge me into stopping dieting, and the article mentions some of them that are now discredited or impossible to reproduce, I don't simply ignore them. Maybe it's "Big Sugar", as a fellow HNer called it, but maybe not.

Flora disruption seems very real to me. I had to quit Coke years ago (don't ask) and now I've quit sodas alltogether. I don't like coffee, but fortunately caffeine is sold in pills, and much cheaper.

I mention soda specifically because that's what kept me needing sweeteners. Now I drink only water, beer when out with friends, and tea, that unless I'm actively trying to lose weight, I have with one cube or nothing.