It was a bad break, figuratively. I had an insurmountable lead in a big-name race I had wanted to win for years when the crash occurred.

It was a bad break, literally. The J-fracture of the femur was so lengthy that it required two x-rays.

Yet a cast was never placed upon my leg. Six days after the accident, albeit very awkwardly, I was riding a stationary bike. Two weeks later, albeit very slowly, I was gingerly riding a mountain bike on flat roads.

Such a rapid recovery occurred because two titanium rods were inserted on each side of the femur and along with three metal screws forced it back together.

Encouraged to work out as soon as possible to help the healing process, I did crunches and arm circles while still bedridden in the hospital. Five days after being discharged, I had progressed to four hours of stretching, lifting weights, and puttering around on a mountain bike.

Along with a diet I specifically designed, such workouts fused the break together in under three weeks. My doctor said he had never seen such a lengthy fracture heal quicker.

One hardcore cyclist, however, was less than impressed with my quick recovery. He said: “I can’t believe you let them put rods in your leg.”

To insert rods to stabilize a J-fractured femur, he explained, major muscles are cut so severely that it can take up to 18 months for them to regain full strength, something my doctor never mentioned.

That’s why this story works to introduce any article about uncovering contrary health-and-fitness information. While you’re more likely to encounter such controversy while reading on a recliner rather than rehabilitating in a gym, it will probably cause you to worry and wonder — as I once did — if you made the right choice.

In fact, the use of artificial sweeteners and whether they help or hurt your overall health has created such controversy that it caused the Center for Science in the Public Interest, better known as CSPI, to do an about face.

Initially, CSPI agreed with the FDA’s 2003 approval of the now ubiquitous artificial sweetener, sucralose, and deemed its use “safe.” By 2013, however, new research changed their official stance to “use with caution.”

In 2015, the International Journal of Occupational and Environmental Health published research done at the Ramazzini Institute in Italy where male mice given sucralose developed cancer at an alarmingly higher rate than the control mice and the female mice also given sucralose.

It did not matter that the researchers had no explanation for why only the male mice developed more cancer than the females. Nor that the amount of sucralose used in the study far exceeded a possible human consumption equivalent. Nor that 110 other studies found the use of sucralose safe.

By 2016, CSPI changed their recommendation to “avoid its use” anyway.

So should you?

That simple question has a less-than-simple answer since now there’s even controversy as to whether or not the use of artificial sweeteners leads to weight loss.

In July, the Canadian Medical Association Journal published research that reviewed 37 studies, seven randomized trials and 30 observational studies, containing information on more than 400,000 people.

The review found no solid evidence that sweeteners like sucralose help people lose weight. In fact, the observational data suggest that those who regularly consume artificial sweeteners are more likely to develop future health problems — although the aforementioned studies couldn’t link that likelihood directly to the sweeteners.

These results caused Meghan Azad, lead author of the review and a research scientist at the University of Manitoba, to say this about the use of artificial sweeteners to NPR: “There is no clear benefit for weight loss, and there’s a potential association with increased weight gain, diabetes and other negative cardiovascular outcomes.”

Despite that review and her words, I’m not down on the use of artificial sweeteners. I’m down on people who feel consuming them gives them permission to eat with impunity.

And so is Allison Sylvetsky Meni, an assistant professor in the department of exercise and nutrition sciences at George Washington University’s Milken Institute School of Public Health. When NPR asked for her comments about the review, she stressed that past research suggests that sweeteners can help with weight loss — if they are used as a one-to-one replacement for sugar-sweetened drinks or foods.

Which is how, you need to remember, they were originally intended to be used.

One final note that deserves mention: While some consider the sugar substitute stevia to be artificial because it requires processing, it comes from the leaves of the stevia rebaudiana plant and not a processing plant — like sucralose, aspartame, acesulfame K, and advantame. Erythritol is also natural and contains virtually no calories.