You may well think that Coke Zero has zero calories, zero fat and zero taste and that may well be true but it will not leave you with zero fat according to a report published in the Canadian Medical Associations Journal in July 2017. Nonnutritive sweeteners, such as aspartame, sucralose and stevioside, are widely consumed, yet their long-term health impact is uncertain and there is evidence that they may cause all sorts of long-term adverse cardiometabolic effects.
The report authors searched MEDLINE, Embase and Cochrane Library for randomised controlled trials (RCTs) relating to nonnutritive sweeteners and the effects that they had. They found that the consumption of nonnutritive sweeteners was associated with increases in weight and waist circumference, and higher incidence of obesity, hypertension, metabolic syndrome, type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular events.
According to the lead author of the study, Dr. Ryan Zarychanski, ‘Despite the fact that millions of individuals routinely consume artificial sweeteners .. we found that data from clinical trials do not clearly support the intended benefits of artificial sweeteners for weight management… Caution is warranted until the long-term health effects of artificial sweeteners are fully characterised.’
So we see that no calories and no taste does not mean no fat – at least not on you.