Another update that came up in a different thread.
Diets high in ultraprocessed foods are correlated with high mortality with a higher cause being neurodegenerative diseases. A leading category of ultraprocessed food for that association is sweetened beverages including those with artificial sweeteners.
Now specifically higher use of artificial sweeteners is correlated with future cognitive decline in at least two different populations studied, Brazil -
https://www.neurology.org/doi/10.1212/WNL.0000000000214023
And India
These products apparently disrupt the blood brain barrier, increase oxidative stress, among other plausible mechanisms. As always of course while prospective and with control for confounders it must be noted this is correlation not definitive causation. It seems plausible to me that a strong preference for sweet might be an early marker of brain changes that later become overtly neurodegenerative. But it adds up all these bits.