Is Drinking Diet Soda Bad For You

Diet Soda Can Throw Your Metabolism Out Of Whack

Diet Soda IS NOT Bad For You

The weight difference between diet soda drinkers vs. abstainers may be more complex than eating more. “The chemicals that are used to sweeten diet soda are not natural substances to the body and aren’t put to good use. Once inside the body, they can cause inflammation and place pressure on the body’s detoxification system. As a result, they may increase the risk of metabolic disorders such as metabolic syndrome, insulin resistance, and diabetes,” Whittel says.

Different Cold Drink Options In Low

Being realistic, it is not a likely outcome thatone will simply stop drinking soda, whether sugary or diet, if there is nothingto fill that gap. A cool, tasty beverage is a great accompaniment to meals, andoften a treat in its own right. If Coke Zero and Diet Coke, as well as othersodas, are something we should ideally not have, or have rarely, then what isthe best alternative?

Immediately, water is a great option. A surveyin the late 90s found that many Americans experienced ongoing minordehydration. It is likely that many of us do not drink as much water as weshould, so trading out soda for water would be a good thing overall for ourhealth.

Drinking water and regular hydration, aside frombeing at a certain level simply necessaryto live, provide a number of health benefits:

Stayinghydrated allows us to have our best physical performance, as we offset thenatural dehydration that occurs from sweating during exercise and physicalactivity.
Dehydration,even in mild cases, can cause us to experience reduced concentration, worsenedmood and even headaches.
Drinkingwater can also help relieve digestive challenges, such as constipation, andregularly drinking water along with alcohol can offset the symptoms ofhangovers.
Perhapsmost relevantly to those on a low-carb diet pursuing weight loss, drinkingwater can aid in losing weight by increasing a persons metabolism and burningcalories .

Can Diet Soda Cause Cancer

Some pretty serious claims have been made about the harmful side-effects of diet soda, linking it to high blood pressure, diabetes, dementia and even cancer. However, current studies simply aren’t conclusive, and these claims remain unverified. One important reason for this uncertainty is that no clinical trial has been conducted long enough to sufficiently shed light on the matter.

What we do know is that the most common artificial sweetener used in diet soda, aspartame, has been deemed safe for most people by the FDA and there’s no evidence that it causes serious harm. Two other common artificial sweeteners, stevia and sucralose, have also been judged safe for consumption.

If you’re concerned about the chemicals in diet soda and their impact on your health, consider cutting back on the amount you drink each day and, instead, opt for regular water or sparkling water.

Also Check: Female Fitness Model Diet Plan Sample

Its Associated With Heart Disease

Cracking open a can of the diet stuff is linked to an increase in blood pressure and other risk factors for heart disease. In fact, researchers observed that women who drank two or more artificially sweetened beverages every day were 29 percent more likely to develop heart disease and 23 percent more likely to have a stroke, according to a large February 2019 study published in Stroke, a journal of the American Heart Association.

Again, like the studies on diabetes risk, these were observational studies so they only show an association. More clinical research needs to be done to determine cause and effect.

Drinking This Is Just As Dangerous As Drinking Soda New Study Says

Study after study has noted that being a regular soda drinker is one of the worst things you can do to your body. After all, overconsumption of the sugary beverages over time can spur weight gain, increase your chances of getting type-2 diabetes, age your body prematurely, cause your skin to break out, lower your sperm count, affect your kidney health, rot your teeth, and hurt your heart. But if you think that you’ll sidestep a lot of the bad side effects of drinking soda by switching to diet soda alternatives or other artificially sweetened beverageschiefly as it pertains to your heartwe’ve got bad news for you.

According to a new research letter in The Journal of the American College of Cardiology, which was based on research and data from the French NutriNet-Santé, consuming “diet” sodas and other artificially-sweetened drinks is just as bad for your heart as drinking regular sodas. The study drew on a large sample size of more than 100,000 participants over the course of a decade, and “artificially-sweetened drinks” were defined as those with “non-nutritive” sweeteners. During ten years of follow-up questions, both those who drank sugary beverages and those who drank artificially sweetened beverages showed greater risk of heart disease.

Recommended Reading: Cushing’s Disease In Dogs Diet

It Confusesour Bodies And Brain

Whether you gulp down a glass of regular soda or the calorie-free version, your body doesn’t know the difference â initially, that is. “Artificial sweeteners confuse our brains and bodies to some extent,” says Nicole Avena, PhD, neuroscientist, an expert in sugar and food addiction and the author of Why Diets Fail .

“When we taste something sweet, our body and brain react by releasing insulin in expectation of the glucose that circulates in our blood as a result of eating something with sugar. But when we consume an artificial sweetener, we end up releasing insulin when it isn’t necessary, since the sweeteners don’t impact blood glucose in the way that caloric sweeteners can.”

Why is this a problem? Over time, this can lead to insulin resistance or difficulty managing blood sugar, which may potentially lead to diabetes.

You May Have Weaker Bones

While diet soda is void of calories and sugar, certain varieties can contain phosphorus in the form of phosphoric acid. This mineral can play a positive role in bone health, assuming that another key bone-health supporting nutrient, calcium, is consumed in adequate amounts. But, consuming copious amounts of phosphorus can negatively affect the calcium/phosphorus ratio in your body, ultimately increasing the risk of experiencing decreased bone mineral density. Opting for caffeinated sodas may worsen your bone health even further, thanks to this stimulant’s negative effect on bone health.

If you are concerned about your phosphoric acid intake, choose clear diet soda instead of classic colas, as clear versions are not typically made with this mineral compound.

Don’t Miss: Low Carb Diet Meal Plan

Is Diet Coke Bad If You’re Trying To Lose Fat

Lets get something straight, weight gain and weight loss is determined by calorie balance :

A fundamental principle of nutrition and metabolism is that body weight change is associated with an imbalance between the energy content of food eaten and energy expended by the body to maintain life and to perform physical work ~ Am J Clin Nutr

A drink that contains zero calories cannot cause you to gain weight. Its physiologically impossible. There is no evidence that shows drinking diet drinks will result in fat gain.

Some studies have actually shown that sweeteners may even improve weight loss and long-term control of body weight.

How can this be? Ever had a sweet tooth? Of course you have. Sometimes artificially sweetened foods, although unlikely to serve any nutritional benefit can eliminate sugar cravings.

If a zero calorie diet coke is the go to instead of a 300 calorie chocolate bar, it doesnt require an expert to explain why this is going to make a difference to the waist line.

No Diet Soda Is Not The Answer To Cut Sugar

What One Sip of Diet Soda Does to Your Brain

Given the theme of this column, it would seem that a big step forward in promoting public health would be to shift from fully sugared soda to sugarless diet drinks. Seems logical, right? Unfortunately, over the years, it has been determined that diet drinks are not the answer. Yes, diet drinks reduce calories from sugar, but they can be harmful to your health in several ways.

For starters, ironically, diet drinks can actually cause weight gain instead of weight loss. Despite fewer calories in diet drinks, this is offset by an increased desire for sugary treats. This may be due to a change in the brain, the so-called sweet-sensing reward center, and its reaction to sweetness, causing an increase in cravings for high-calorie foods.

Another problem with diet drinks that can promote weight gain has to do with changes in our gastrointestinal microbes, the gut microbiome. Research suggests that artificial sweeteners increase the population of gut bacteria that do a better job of releasing energy from food during digestion. In turn, this makes more energy available to be stored as body fat.

You May Like: 7 Day Fruit Diet Plan

Drinking Diet Soda Bad For You When Bulking

im bulking and for what i drink during the day its usualy only these thre…Water….skim milk…..and diet soda…. most of the time its water wiht every meal and milk one or 2 meals and diet soda one or 2 cans a day is there anything bad in diet soda thats not good for muslce growth or anything that could slow it down???i know theres a lot of chemicals in it thats why im wondering

08-04-2005, 08:36 PM#2

Posts: 127
Rep Power: 214

welll your better off having water insted of soda, but the way i see it, its alright to have some softdrink every now and then, once a day is alright, and no it wont stuff up your muscle building unless you drinkin 6 cans of coke per day which your not. so its fine what your doing! =D

08-04-2005, 08:40 PM#3

Rep Power: 0

Increases Risk Of Obesity And Diabetes

If you havent guessed it, the increased appetite and insulin resistance linked to the artificial sweeteners in diet soda mean youre at an increased risk for obesity and diabetes, and researchers discovered just that. In the largest study to evaluate the biochemical influences of artificial sweeteners on the body, researchers confirmed an independent link between diet soda, obesity and diabetes. The scientists presented their findings at the 2018 Experimental Biology meeting in San Diego. So the jury is in, diet soda isn’t the healthy alternative it was once thought to be, and the risks far outweigh the benefits.

Recommended Reading: Diabetic Diet Plan To Lose Weight

Some Studies Link Diet Soda To Diabetes And Heart Disease

Although diet soda has no calories, sugar, or fat, it has been linked to the development of type 2 diabetes and heart disease in several studies.

Research has found that just one serving of an artificially sweetened drink per day is associated with an 813% higher risk of type 2 diabetes (

35 ).

More direct experimental research is needed to determine whether theres any true causal relationship between diet soda and increased blood sugar or blood pressure.

Summary

Observational studies have linked diet soda to type 2 diabetes, high blood pressure, and an increased risk of stroke. However, theres a lack of research on the possible causes of these results. They may be due to preexisting risk factors like obesity.

What Happens If You Drink Diet Coke Every Day

It depends on how much you drink. Research shows that you need to consume a lot of diet drinks to cause any health issues from artificial sweeteners, so one can a day will not much harm. People who drink a lot of Diet Coke are advised to drink less as this replaces healthier options and may reduce nutrient intake opportunities.

Recommended Reading: Is Keto Diet Good For Fatty Liver

Its Linked To Preterm Delivery And Childhood Obesity

Drinking diet soda while pregnant has been linked to some negative outcomes, including preterm delivery and childhood obesity.

A Norwegian study in 60,761 pregnant women found that intake of artificially sweetened and sugar-containing drinks was associated with an 11% higher risk of preterm delivery .

Earlier Danish research supports these findings. A study in almost 60,000 women found that women who consumed one serving of diet soda per day were 1.4 times more likely to deliver preterm than those who did not .

However, recent research in 8,914 women in England did not find any association between diet cola and preterm delivery. However, the authors admitted that the study may not have been big enough and had been limited to diet cola .

Its important to note that these studies were only observational and offer no explanation of exactly how diet soda may contribute to preterm birth.

Furthermore, consuming artificially sweetened drinks while pregnant is significantly associated with an increased risk of childhood obesity .

One study found that the daily consumption of diet drinks during pregnancy doubled the risk of a baby being overweight at 1 year of age .

Further research is needed to analyze the potential biological causes and long-term health risks for children exposed to artificially sweetened sodas in the womb.

Cons Of Drinking Diet Soda With Diabetes Include

Youre consuming few to no calories but gaining no nutritional benefit.
Its full of potentially harmful additives.
Long-term diet soda drinking is still associated with weight gain and other health risks.
Research shows an increased risk of diabetes and metabolic syndrome with both diet soda and regular soda intake.

You May Like: Ketogenic Diet List Of Foods

What Happens To Your Body When You Drink Diet Soda

Every food or drink you include in your diet can affect your health. From orange juice consumption being linked to immune support to a cup of tea being linked to reduced inflammation, your dietary choices can profoundly impact your overall health.

And while you might lean on diet soda for that distinct sweet effervescence without worrying about loading up with sugar, doing so may have other effects on your health that you may not realize. Here are six other effects that can happen when you sip diet sodas on the regular.

Studies On Diet Soda Consumption

What Too Much Diet Soda Does To Your Body And Brain

A study published in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology found that people who drank diet soda on a daily basis had a higher risk of stroke and heart attack compared to those who did not drink diet soda. Additionally, another study published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition found that diet soda drinkers had a higher risk of type 2 diabetes compared to those who did not drink diet soda.

Read Also: What Is Keto Diet Plan

Is Diet Coke Better Than Regular Coke For Weight Loss

Firstly, to lose weight, you need to be in a calorie deficit, meaning you need to consume less energy than what you expend. For long-term success, you need to do this consistently.

Immediately, the thought of swapping a 500ml bottle of Coke for a 500ml bottle of calories in Diet Coke is much more appealing to help reduce calories, and prevent consuming 50g of refined sugar. But what about the huge amounts of aspartame?!

Rogers et al 2016 conducted a meta-analysis that showed the consumption of LCS improved weight loss in adults and children when compared to sugar-based alternatives, as part of an ad libitum diet.

Another meta-analysis in 2014 found no association between LCS and body weight or fat mass and may have a positive association with BMI.

The authors concluded that data from RCTs, which provide the highest quality of evidence for examining the potentially causal effects of LCS intake, indicate that substituting LCS options for their regular-calorie versions results in a modest weight loss and maybe a useful dietary tool to improve compliance with weight loss or weight maintenance plans.

Is Drinking Diet Soda Bad For You 5 Health Risks

There are plenty of myths and rumors surrounding diet soda. It seems like the perfect solution: Get the sugary taste of soda without the unwanted liquid calories. However, as food scientists begin to examine how the artificial sweeteners affect our bodies, they are finding some interesting, and not completely positive results.

But unlike its sugary counterparts, including Coke, Pepsi and plenty of others, the research done on artificially sweetened drinks is new and far from conclusive. Whereas the American Heart Association linked more than 180,000 deaths around the world to sugary drinks , experts are often hesitant to condemn diet drinks with the current body of research.

So what do we know about diet soda? Enough to make us skeptical. Though many of the studies conducted have been based on survey and self-reported information, and often find associations as opposed to cause-and-effect results, there is little stating any real benefit to drinking soda no matter if it contains sugar or artificial sweeteners. And some of the studies show associations that make it obvious that these calorie-saving drinks may not be doing our waistlines or well-being any favors. Read on to see five health risks that have been linked to artificially sweetened drinks.

They May Trick Your Brain

They May Make You Crave More Dessert

Recommended Reading: Names Of Prescription Diet Pills

Does Diet Coke Increase Heart Attack And Stroke Risk

An observational study published in February 2019 reported that people who drank diet drinks were more likely to suffer from heart attacks or a stroke.

However, because the study was observational it just looks at associations or links between the participants, rather than directly showing that diet drinks increase heart attacks or strokes. It also doesn’t actually explain why diet drinks might be linked to an increased risk. Follow?

Just like in the section above about overweight people drinking more diet coke, the folks more at risk of heart attack or stroke, due to other lifestyle factors, could be drinking more diet drinks in a bid to be healthier or manage their weight.

Lastly, the British Heart Foundation are still are happy with the safety of sweeteners and recommend them over a full sugar drinks every time.

Latest Posts