Bad news for diet soda addicts – it looks like it could be doing the opposite of what’s intended. Two new studies presented at an American Diabetes Association conference found that diet drinks and artificial sweeteners actually increase people’s waistlines and increase their risk of diabetes! This might not come as a complete surprise; the debate about diet soda’s effects on weight gain, metabolic syndrome, and even cancer has been going on for years now. Most of us turn our back to the warnings, just putting it aside with the other proclaimed cancer-causing agents in our lives.
But could it be that it’s time to finally face the facts, that opting for “diet” over regular could actually be a self-defeating behavior? You’ll have to decide for yourself, but here are the findings. Don’t say we didn’t warn you!
The first study by doctors at the University of Texas – San Antonio analyzed data from 474 subjects in the two-decade long San Antonio Longitudinal Study of Aging (SALSA). The findings from ScienceDaily:
Measures of height, weight, waist circumference and diet soda intake were recorded at SALSA enrollment and at three follow-up exams that took place over the next decade. The average follow-up time was 9.5 years. The researchers compared long-term change in waist circumference for diet soda users versus non-users in all follow-up periods. The results were adjusted for waist circumference, diabetes status, leisure-time physical activity level, neighborhood of residence, age and smoking status at the beginning of each interval, as well as sex, ethnicity and years of education.
Diet soft drink users, as a group, experienced 70 percent greater increases in waist circumference compared with non-users. Frequent users, who said they consumed two or more diet sodas a day, experienced waist circumference increases that were 500 percent greater than those of non-users.
500 percent!? That is a huge number, and clearly a concern. The researchers say that national campaigns against sugary drinks need to point out that diet drinks aren’t any better. Unfortunately, this study does not compare diet drinks to regular sodas and sweetened beverages, so it’s difficult to say if one is truly better than the other. It also didn’t measure any sort of calorie intake. But one thing is for sure – those who avoid the artificial stuff have much better health and waistlines.
In the related project, the relationship between aspartame and fasting glucose and insulin levels in 40 diabetes-prone mice were studied. Aspartame is a popular artificial sweetener found in most diet sodas and other “diet” products. The mice were fed a high-fat diet including aspartame for three months. Compared to the control group, the mice has elevated fasting glucose levels and equal or diminished insulin levels consistent with early declines in pancreatic beta-cell function. Co-author Dr. Gabriel Fernandes says:
“These results suggest that heavy aspartame exposure might potentially directly contribute to increased blood glucose levels, and thus contribute to the associations observed between diet soda consumption and the risk of diabetes in humans.”
Yikes. So does this mean you’re better off drinking regular soda? Not quite. Regular soda is loaded with sugar, containing up to 40g of sugar in one can! So, daily consumption of soda and other sugary beverages will also up your risk for weight gain and diabetes. The lesson learned here is that diet soda is not the answer for lowering obesity or diabetes rates.
So what’s a soda drinker to do? You can’t drink regular soda and now you can’t drink diet soda, either. Well, not exactly. It’s all about moderation. If you truly love the stuff, don’t deprive yourself completely. It’s okay to have a soda here and there, just not everyday (or every other day for that matter). Skip the artificial stuff, and have a regular can of soda when the temptation strikes. If you’re serious about making a healthy lifestyle change, cut soda out of your diet completely! You could lose up to 15 pounds in one year by eliminating a soda-a-day habit.
