Maybe the people the reason people gain weight is because they had a weight problem to begin with. Maybe if they'd stuck to regular sugar filled whatever, they'd have gained even more weight! At least they mitigated their problem for a hundred calories or so for every soda they drank. But slowing down weight gain doesn't equal weight loss as most of us know.

All the research I've done in Pub Med as indicated that there is no insulin production caused by aspartame. There were 38 studies there about this subject and all the ones I reviewed had exactly the same result.

Could there be a psychological link between eating/drinking something sweet and then craving more sweets or wanting to eat? I wouldn't be surprised if that is true in some people.

Personally I drink a fair amount of aspartame sweetened Crytal Light each day. I find that when I have "bored mouth syndrome", i.e. I want to eat or drink just to entertain my taste buds, that it does the trick. I have a cup of CL and I feel a fullness sensation from the liquid. I can often postphone a meal by an hour or more simply by having a little more aspartame sweetened drink.

I wouldn't be surprised if some of that might be due to the phenylalanine, which aspartame breaks down into. That used to be used in appetite suppressants or sold in health food stores.

Personally I wish they'd switch to sucralose because then I could nuke my drink in the microwave and not kill the sweetness, but I'm fairly well convinced that aspartame is harmless for most people when not abused and personally I can vounch it doesn't make me wish to eat more and possibly helps me eat a little less by giving me something to sip on that doesn't contain empty sugar laden calories.

If that's evil, then I'm dancing with the devil.