Read: The Myth of Healthy Processed Food.]

Much attention has recently been paid to diet soda, the stand-out vehicle for artificial sweeteners in our diets, in both the research literature and the popular press. The current conclusion is that while we don't know for sure that diet sodas and artificial sweeteners cause Homo sapiens to overeat and get fat - as they appear to do in other species - we don't have conclusive evidence to rule that out, either. In other words, there is no well-established case that "diet" sodas actually help with "dieting" (a very questionable practice in its own right, but that's a different story).

The only putative advantage of making sweet chemicals a part of our diets is the calories and sugar they take out. If they don't really do that, there is no excuse for them whatsoever. Perhaps they do help with this, but the burden of proof resides with those claiming the benefit, not with those of us who doubt it. If something implies it helps with dieting, there should be evidence of that benefit. Such evidence as exists is murky at best.

So, in other words, it is far from clear that artificial sweeteners do the very thing they were designed to do. The burden of proof, in my view, has not been satisfied - and neither am I.

jīng diǎn de lěng xiào huà 5 zé 

1、yí gè chōu yān de rén dǎ kāi tā de yān hé ，qǐng zuò zài tā yòu biān de rén chōu yān ，yòu biān de rén shuō ：“xiè xiè ，wǒ bù chōu yān 。”

tā yòu qǐng zuò zài zuǒ biān de rén chōu yān ，zuǒ biān de rén yě shuō ：“wǒ bù chōu yān ，xiè xiè ！”

tā de fū rén tí xǐng dào ：“nǐ zěn me bù qǐng zuò zài duì miàn de rén chōu yān ne ？”