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I'd be interested to know how much of that is from reduced sales, how much is from products reducing the overall sweetness, and how much is the products being full of (controversially potentially worse) artificial sweeteners and other crap to replace the sugar.
Where are you getting that they're potentially worse? They may have some adverse effects but they seem minor compared to sugar. For aspartame there seems to be some studies possibly linking it with cancer, but those are very limited and even after those studies came out the WHO reaffirmed it's safety at normal levels. Meanwhile actual sugar has been proven to cause diabetes, heart disease, obesity etc. Sucralose doesn't seem to show any adverse effects at normal doses.
A lot of the controversy on artificial sweeteners comes from the sugar lobby combined with moral panics and conspiracies on using "chemicals" in foods.
I did say "controversially" and "potentially" :)
I think it was the WHO who mentioned it last year, but it keeps cropping up each year from various university studies - of course I'll have only ever read the news reports of those studies.
I absolutely agree though, I'd be highly suspicious of sugar company (or high-fructose-syrup) lobbying.
Personally my preference is for "things to just be less sweet" (like why does some bread or soup have sugar in now?!?), though I suspect it's a bit of a minority opinion :)
I refuse to have anything with Stevia in it as it gives me the shits. And Aspartame tastes weird.
I do have less sugar as a result, though!
The WHO advises not to use them https://www.who.int/news/item/15-05-2023-who-advises-not-to-use-non-sugar-sweeteners-for-weight-control-in-newly-released-guideline
Personally I don't agree with their reasoning, but given the controversy I don't feel comfortable forcing them on people.
They advise not to use them for weight control. That's a bit different than what you're implying.