If you switched to diet soda from regular soda to save calories and protect your health, you may have only done one of the two. Diet soda is lower in calories, but as for being healthier, it has its issues. It doesn’t have any sugar, which is a plus, but it offers artificial sweeteners that might make you gain even more weight. The weight doesn’t come from calories, since many of these soft drinks contain no calories. It comes from the trick the sweeteners play on the brain.
You’ll have a bigger waistline and gain more weight with diet soda.
When you drink soda sweetened with artificial sweeteners, it tricks your brain into thinking you consumed sugar, but the body disagrees. That leads to more cravings for a natural source of sugar. It leaves your body unsatisfied, so you may eat or drink even more. Artificial sweeteners can also disrupt the gut microbiome, which can cause weight gain and other problems. One large long-term study also found that people who drank diet soda had a large waist circumference compared to those who never or seldom drank it.
You already know the sugar in soda is bad for you.
Soda may not contain a huge amount of calories compared to a Krispy Kreme Mocha Dream Chiller or a Starbucks Mocha Cookie Crumble Frappuccino Blended Beverage, but it doesn’t mean it won’t pack on the pounds. Many people think that drinking soda, instead of no-calorie alternatives like water or black coffee, is part of the cause of the obesity epidemic. One can of cola a day for a year can pack on almost 15 pounds.
Both diet sodas and regular sodas increase the risk for health issues.
One study of 2,465 people lasted nine years. It found that people consuming diet sodas were 48% more likely to have a stroke or heart attack when compared to those who didn’t drink it. That doesn’t mean you should switch back to regular soda. Various studies have found it affected other parts of the body. In a 2002 study, it was associated with diets high in sugar, which reduced the production of brain derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) that improves learning and memory. Another study found it increased the risk of heart attack by 20% which increases the more a person drinks.
- Which one is better for you? Neither. Consider switching to water or infused water if you want more flavor. It has no calories and can help relieve joint pain and hydrate your skin to make you look younger.
- The study that found diet soda increased people’s waistline found those who drank no diet soda increased their waist by 0.8 inches. The occasional drinkers’ waists increased by 1.83 inches, while the daily drinkers increased their waist by 3.16 inches.
- Drinking diet soda may not prevent weight gain or serious conditions, but it doesn’t contribute to tooth decay. Bacteria need sugar to grow. However, the acid in both diet and regular soda compromised the enamel.
- Even though regular soft drinks are higher in sugar, they aren’t as high in sugar as most fruit juices. An 8-ox serving of apple juice contains 125 calories, while 8 ounces of cola contains only 90.
For more information, contact us today at Body Sculptors Personal Training