Think you’re making a smart choice by drinking diet soda over the regular stuff? The majority of people do; 59 percent of Americans report drinking diet soda on a regular basis, often because they think it’ll help them lose weight or that it’s better for their health. However, studies show that diet soda and other artificially sweetened drinks aren’t doing your waistline any favors, and certainly aren’t improving your health.
According to researchers at the University of Texas, people who drink diet soda are likely to gain, not lose, weight. They also reported that artificial sweeteners – found in everything from diet soda to yogurt to cereals – may spike your blood glucose levels and diabetes risk!
Numerous studies have found similar, unsettling results: Purdue University found that rats fed artificial sweeteners gained more weight than rats fed “sugary foods; A Framingham Heart Study found that diet soda drinkers were at high risk for weight gain and symptoms of the Metabolic Syndrome.
These studies don’t necessarily prove that diet soda makes you gain weight or is worse than the regular stuff, but it should make you think twice before cracking open another diet soda, or adding another pack of Splenda to your morning cup of coffee. Start reading labels and look out for anything with aspartame or sucralose (Splenda). Switch to all natural low-calorie sweeteners like Stevia, instead, or just cut back on the sweeteners all together.
And if you’re serious about making a healthy lifestyle change, cut soda out of your diet completely – diet and regular! You could lose up to 15 pounds in one year by eliminating a soda-a-day habit.
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