Proof Engine Verification: Artificial sweeteners such as aspartame and sucralose promote weight gain and metabolic disease.

Verdict: PARTIALLY VERIFIED - SC1 (Association) — HOLDS: 3 independent peer-reviewed sources confirm a statistically significant association between artificial sweetener consumption and weight gain / metabolic disease outcomes in humans (B1, B2, B3 — all citations fully verified). - SC2 (Causation) — FAILS: Only 1 source was identified for the causal sub-claim (B4 — a mechanistic mouse-model study), far below the threshold of 3. Multiple meta-analyses of randomized controlled trials (RCTs) — the gold standard for c