ELI5 Rewind - Artificial Sweeteners - good for weight loss or bad for you?

Why was VitaminWater sued over the 33g of sugar in each bottle? How do our bodies work with artificial sweeteners? Why do diet sodas taste different to regular ones? Are artificial sweeteners a good way to lose weight? Do they cause cancer? Why nutrition labels for TicTacs list zero sugar?
... we explain like I'm five
Study referenced in this episode:
Association between intake of sweetened beverages with all-cause and cause-specific mortality: a systematic review and meta-analysis
https://academic.oup.com/jpubhealth/advance-article-abstract/doi/10.1093/pubmed/fdab069/6218497
Thank you to the r/explainlikeimfive community and in particular the following users whose questions and comments formed the basis of this discussion: rhumsaa, iamaddicted2r_ddit, sablemint, richmana, phenylacetate, clburton24 and joe6161
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