Good morning, label readers. For years the advice has been to swap diet soft drink for water if you want to lose weight. A two-year trial just tested that head to head, and water did not win.

Every story here comes with an evidence label: what kind of study it was, how many people, for how long, and who paid. Read the label before the headline.

In this week's scan

• Diet drinks match water in a two-year trial
• Less ultra-processed food, better mood in a small pilot
• Health stars may become compulsory in Australia
• Creatine without the gym, B12 and fractures, and more

Weight

Diet drinks did as well as water over two years

The scan: University of Liverpool researchers gave adults with overweight or obesity either diet soft drinks or water during a weight loss program, then followed them for two years. Both groups lost weight and kept it off.

What's in it:

• The drinks used aspartame, acesulfame potassium and sucralose.
• Waist, hip and metabolic blood markers improved in both groups, with no meaningful difference in blood pressure or cholesterol.
• Sugar intake fell in both groups, slightly more with diet drinks.
• There was no sign sweeteners increased appetite.

Our read: A strong design with an industry funder, which is why it scores three and not four. It measured weight, not long-term health, so it does not make diet drinks a health food. It does suggest that if a diet drink gets you off the sugary one, you are not undoing the benefit.

Mood

Cutting ultra-processed food eased depression in a small pilot

The scan: At the University of California San Francisco, adults with depression spent four weeks on a diet that removed more than 85% of their ultra-processed food. Their depression scores improved on all three scales used.

What's in it:

• Each person served as their own comparison.
• Depression improved moderately to strongly. Anxiety improved modestly.
• The team suspects these foods wear down the gut lining and drive low-grade inflammation.
• Everyone also had a high BMI and a metabolic condition, and 70% were women.

Our read: An experiment, not a survey, which is rare in this area. It is also 20 people for four weeks, and the larger trial will not start enrolling until 2028. A promising lead, and no substitute for care from your GP or psychologist.

Australia

Health stars may become compulsory on packaged food

The scan: Food Standards Australia New Zealand is weighing a rule that would put a Health Star Rating on most packaged foods, in a fixed spot on the pack, worked out with one prescribed calculation.

What's in it:

• Ministers wanted 70% of intended products carrying stars by 14 November 2025. Uptake was reported at under 40%.
• The first consultation drew more than 380 submissions.
• A second round was scheduled for mid September to late October. FSANZ had not posted dates when we checked.

Our read: A voluntary rating mostly lands on products that score well, so the stars on shelves today are a flattering sample. Compulsory stars would show the low scores too. They would still only compare foods within a category, and say nothing about additives or allergens.

Creatine without the gym. Trial · 64 Adults aged 45 to 65 taking creatine monohydrate (10 g a day in the study) gained about 1.1 kg of lean tissue in 12 weeks without training. Those who also trained gained more. Source

Low B12, more fractures. Records · 231,470 Fractures in adults over 50 were 7.2% with B12 deficiency against 6% with normal levels. Observational, with no data on diet or vitamin D. Source

Walnuts and mood. Trial · 31 40 g a day for eight weeks was linked to lower mood disturbance in 20 to 35 year olds. Small, and people knew what they were eating. Source

The MIND diet and brain ageing. Cohort · 1,647 A higher MIND diet score went with slower grey matter loss over about 12 years. Berries and poultry stood out. Source

Mauritius turned its diabetes curve. Surveys · 7 Type 2 diabetes fell from 23.3% of adults in 2009 to 19.9% in 2021. Source

On the label this week: sweeteners can appear as code numbers on Australian packs. The three from the lead story are 951 aspartame, 950 acesulfame potassium and 955 sucralose.

In the app: 400 recipes, all with photos, and a scanner that reads the additives on a label for you. Get Nureo on the App Store or Google Play.

Grade this issue. One tap tells us what to keep.

See you next week,
Braidon and the Nureo team