This new paper (Boxall et al., 2025, Adv Nutr) looked at 100 human experiments on aspartame’s effects on glucose, insulin, and appetite hormones. Here’s the breakdown:
What they found:
Aspartame doesn’t meaningfully spike glucose or insulin compared to water/placebo or other sweeteners.

Compared to sugar → aspartame actually reduced glucose & insulin responses in acute settings.

Appetite hormones? Very little effect overall; not enough evidence to claim it alters hunger or intake in a consistent way.

Across medium & long-term studies: same pattern. Few effects, mostly neutral, but lots of study variability → low certainty overall.

What it means:
If you’re replacing sugar with aspartame, it’s much less likely to mess with your glucose or insulin. It’s not a magic health food, but the scary insulin-spike claims? Not supported by data.
TL;DR:
Aspartame ≠ insulin villain. When it replaces sugar, it looks neutral — not harmful the way some make it out to be.

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