If you read this CNN article, please read it carefully. It notes possible variables in the study, and artificial sweeteners aren’t completely exonerated.
Be sure to take a look at the slideshow, too, but try to resist the temptation to say, “If my favorite juice has that much sugar, I’ll eat the cookies instead.” That isn’t what mature adults do, and you know it.
http://www.cnn.com/2016/10/22/health/sweetened-drinks-double-diabetes-risk/index.html