What about sweeteners like Zylitol and Stevia? The women in my family consume them exclusively.<p>Frankly, the signal to noise ratio is so bad whenever I try to look up these things that I've grown immune to the discourse. Every few months, there's also a new blog post explaining why coffee and vitamin supplements are bad for you, then suddenly they're good for you again. One day, coffee is the average American's greatest source of antioxidants. The next day, laxative effects of coffee shed free water and nutrients for a net loss.<p>Since artificial sweeteners in their cup of morning tea probably isn't the straw that broke the camel's back of obesity in those studies, I think it's safe to say that we should just focus on a healthy diet and quit looking for ways to find a surrogate for raw willpower.