I personally find what poses a risk to my health (actually my waist line) is if I have one sugar free drink (sweetened) I just crave more.

I don't know if the sugar mitigates some effect, or it's purely driven by psychology and me unconsciously feeling unrestricted in consuming sugar free drinks. But I see a clear effect in me.

I even tried coke life when it existed to see if I managed it better but it was too short lived to know.