The amount of low and no calories sweeteners that children get in their diets has increased two hundred percent in recent years. Obesity rates have also been climbing with one-third of children between the ages of two and nineteen overweight or obese.   The obvious (maybe not so obvious) conclusion that children's weight should be decreasing or staying the same has made researchers question what's going on. It would be safe to assume that fewer calories and less sugar should amount to a decrease in weight.   There's an important disclaimer that needs mentioning -  weight loss does not necessarily amount to good. We don't have objectively measurable qualifiers for health, only for disease.   Some studies are suggesting that swapping artificially sweetened drinks for those high in sugar might promote weight loss in children and teens, but there is also data to suggest that doing so increases health risk in other areas.   Bottom line there are better ways to lose weight and improve health than drinking artificially sweetened drinks.   The purpose of this podcast is to discuss the study and give it interpretation from a Life By Design perspective.   What we covered

• The study itself - how the data was collected and some of the pitfalls from doing it that way.
• Interpretation - did drinking artificially sweetened drinks make an impact in calories consumed, are calories a useful marker for health, what else could be at play?
• Ways we've found helpful for changing diet in our kids.