Thanks for your kind appreciation, David. It's the artificial sweeteners that earn those drinks their "diet" label. Because those sweeteners either dramatically reduce the carb-content or eliminate it altogether. I have written an article about one of those, Xylitol, which, despite it's GRAS label (generally recognized as safe), has shown up in research as potentially increasing the risk of thrombotic events. Now, Xylitol might be a little different from its artificial-sweetener peers as you need equivalent amounts as sugar to get the same level of sweetness. Other art-sweetenres are so potent that you only need very little. They might be less risky, simply for that fact. My personal take is: I don't use them at all. I don't consume sodas or sweetened drinks. The only liquids making it into my body are water, milk (full fat), coffee, red wine (my lousy excuse for calling my diet Mediterranean), and the occasional beer.

I have the impression that many people seem to think that drinks always have to taste sweet. In the gym I observe that overweight members have a preference for the (artificially)sweetened drinks, whereas the normal-weight members prefer plain water.