> And in 2011, a Purdue study hammered the final nail in the olestra coffin. It found that olestra incites weight gain by tricking the body into thinking it doesn’t need to metabolize fatty foods. Once your body is accustomed to olestra fat that has no calories, the body is surprised by the calories of real fat.

I wonder if the same applies to zero calorie sugar substitutes?

Anecdotally the people I know who eat/drink sugar free things don't lose weight, which always struck me as odd when it cuts out so many calories. I'm assuming someone has done some science on this before but I can't find it right now.

Another good read that's akin to Pricenomics is Tedium: http://tedium.co. I get it about once a week in my inbox, and unlike most email newsletters I actually read this one.