Is Drinking Diet Soda Harming Your Health?

Just about everywhere you look you will probably see some sort of advert for a diet soda drink.

It is becoming such a common thing to see people drinking these days, if you are out and about in your car, you reach for a soda, if it is a really hot day, you reach for a can or bottle, if you are watching a movie, you more than likely have some sitting there with the popcorn!

There are millions being spent by the big soda producers, trying to convince us all that diet soda is the new way to go and that it is healthier, lighter and what you need to drink especially if you are dieting.

In a study back in 2011 carried out by the Texas Health and Sciences Centre School of Medicine, they finalized their conclusions from an 8 year collection of data and released them at the American Diabetes Association meeting.

Although the study was carried out a few years ago, bear in mind that our metabolisms have not changed since then, so neither should the results.

These results uncovered that if you drink diet soda this was linked to an even higher risk of obesity than if you drunk normal soda.

When the researchers delved into their data, they found that nearly all of the obesity risk came from diet sodas.

They did say though, that this sort of study does not prove that diet soda actually causes obesity; it shows that something linked to drinking diet soda is also linked to obesity.

The results that came from another study that was carried out at Purdue University Indiana found that rats that ate artificial sweeteners steadily ate more food!

This then added some support to the theory that artificial sweeteners can in fact, alter the body’s perception of satisfaction when they are consumed.

So in effect, you may have the feeling like you have had something sweet, but your brain doesn’t actually register this and your body will continue to want other types of sweet foods.

Although these diet drinks might contain less calories and less sugar, they may have a lot of other chemicals like caffeine, sodium, phosphoric acid and artificial sweeteners and these chemicals can all drain your brain.

Lots of people are continuing to buy these diet drinks on a regular basis, and this is not just happening in any one specific country, they are being sold to men, women and children, all over the world.

Caffeine and phosphoric acid can also be found in sodas and these seep calcium from your body and can tilt your pH balance dangerously to the acidic side.

So What’s the Answer?

Look, you can have these diet sodas as a very short term way of reducing the amount of sugar that you are having.

But, the facts are something that we have to take into consideration and maybe try to wean ourselves off drinking this stuff altogether.

So the question to ask is: “is diet soda healthy?” I know what my opinion is. After what you have just read, what do you think?

RESOURCES

University of Texas Health Science Center: Related Studies Point to the Illusion of the Artificial
http://www.uthscsa.edu/hscnews/singleformat2.asp?newID=3861

MayoClinic: DIet Soda
http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/diet-soda/AN01732

Daily News: Diet Sodas Raise Risk of Type 2 Diabetes More than Those Sweetened with Real Sugar
http://www.nydailynews.com/life-style/health/diet-soda-drinkers-greater-risk-diabetes-study-article-1.1257846

Harvard School of Public Health: Sugary Drinks or Diet Drinks
http://www.hsph.harvard.edu/nutritionsource/sugary-vs-diet-drinks/

FitToday: 4 Health Side Effects of Diet Soda
http://www.fitday.com/fitness-articles/nutrition/healthy-eating/4-health-side-effects-of-diet-soda.html

Harvard Health Publications: IS there a Link Between Diet Soda and Heart Disease
http://www.health.harvard.edu/blog/is-there-a-link-between-diet-soda-and-heart-disease-201202214296

MayoClinic: My Favorite Diet Soda . . .
http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/phenylalanine/AN01552