Soda has gotten a bad reputation over the years, and for good reason. It’s jam packed with hundreds of calories and massive quantities of sugar. And some say it has played a role in the ever increasing obesity epidemic in America.
That’s why many have made the switch over to diet soda because they view it as a healthier alternative. And when you look at in on the surface, this claim is true. It contains zero calories and no sugar. But is diet soda bad for you?
When you look at it from purely a calorie perspective, it is definitely better than regular soda. The goal with weight loss is to consume less calories than you currently do on a daily basis. If you drink 2 sodas a day (roughly 300 calories), switching up to a diet version will certainly help with weight loss.
Fortunately, there have been several studies done on diet beverages that help shed light on the answer to this question.
The San Antonio Heart Study recorded a group of 5,158 adults from 1979 to 1988 to determine if artificially sweetened beverages (diet soda) had an effect on long-term weight gain. Seven to eight years later the researchers re-examined 3,682 of the initial participants.
The found that consuming 21 or more diet beverages per week was associated with double the risk of becoming overweight or obese (1). Now obviously, this is a ton of diet sodas each week, at least 3 per day. But the evidence is interesting nonetheless.
A review published in the Yale Journal of Biology and Medicine in 2010 explains why this may be the case (2). The authors of this review stated that the sweetness of the artificially sweetened drink affects the food reward pathway of the brain.
Because the soda tastes sweet, it can lead to sweet cravings and even addictions. This in turn could lead someone to consume an excess of calories through sweetened food items like candy, cookies, and baked goods. So even though they reduced their caloric intake through diet soda, those calories were replaced through other foods.
But, this isn’t the only study done on diet soda.
In 2012, a group of researchers had 318 obese adults substitute noncaloric beverages (diet soda and water) for calorie beverages to observe the effects on weight reduction. After 6 months, both the diet soda and water groups saw a significant reduction in weight and waist circumference (3). However, there was no difference between groups, in term of the results.
What does this tell us? That calories play the biggest role in losing weight. When you reduce your calories, whether by diet soda or water, the outcome will result in weight loss plain and simple.
So, is diet soda bad for you?
The short answer is it depends. No one likes a vague answer like that, but it’s the truth.
For some of the population, replacing regular soda with diet soda can help cut back on calories, leading to weight loss and better health. For others, diet soda is a gateway to overconsumption and food addiction. This can lead to a host of health problems like obesity and diabetes.
There’s really no way to determine how it will affect you until you try it. So, the solution is to test it.
If you want to lose weight and consume regular soda, try replacing it with diet soda. If begin to see weight loss and don’t experience any sugar cravings, then it’s probably a good strategy to use.
However, if you switch to diet soda and start to notice cravings for other treat-type foods, it’s probably best to discontinue the use of diet soda.
Lastly, I want to mention that diet soda, and soda for that matter, are both man-made creations. They involve a lot of chemicals and unpronounceable ingredients. When comparing these types of drinks to water, there’s no comparison.
Water is as healthy as it gets. Our bodies are mostly made of water, so it’s important for us to consume a lot of it.
If you choose to use diet soda as a weight loss tool, don’t plan to do it forever. More water needs to be a priority for everyone. And it will certainly have more of a impact on your long-term health than switching from regular to diet soda.
References:
1. Fowler, SP. Fueling the obesity epidemic? Artificially sweetened beverage use and long-term weight gain. Obesity (Silver Spring). 2008 Aug;16(8):1894-900.
2. Yang, Q. Gain weight by “going diet?” Artificial sweeteners and the neurobiology of sugar cravings. Yale J Biol Med. 2010 Jun; 83(2): 101–108.
3. Tate, DF. Replacing caloric beverages with water or diet beverages for weight loss in adults: main results of the Choose Healthy Options Consciously Everyday (CHOICE) randomized clinical trial. Am J Clin Nutr. March 2012
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