Diet Soda Causes Weight Gain . People drink diet soda in the hopes that it will help them lose weight—or at least keep them from gaining it. Yet it seems to have exactly the reverse effect, according to new studies presented this week at the American Diabetes Association’s Scientific Sessions in San Diego. Study subjects who drank two or more diet sodas a day had waist size increases that were six times greater than those of people who didn’t drink diet soda, said researchers from the University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio.“What we saw was that the more diet sodas a person drinks, the more weight they were likely to gain,” said epidemiologist Sharon Fowler of the University of Texas Health Science Center. The study was based on data from 4. San Antonio Longitudinal Study of Aging. In that study, the participants were followed for nearly 1. While the findings were surprising, they also offer some explanations. Nutritionist Melainie Rogers, who works with obese patients in New York, has found that when patients are switched from regular to diet soda, they don’t get slimmer. No one knows for sure yet, but it could be that people think they can eat more if they drink diet soda, and so overcompensate for the missing calories. A related study found the sweetener aspartame raised blood sugar levels in diabetes- prone mice.“Data from this and other prospective studies suggest that the promotion of diet sodas and artificial sweeteners as healthy alternatives may be ill- advised,” said study researcher Helen P. Hazuda, professor at the University of Texas’s school of medicine. Are Diet Coke and Diet Pepsi Bad For You? Let’s just state the obvious first: whatever their nutritional value or health status, diet sodas are delicious. Sweet but not syrupy, with a slightly bitter aftertaste, we love everything from the shiny silver cans, the delightful Sofia Vergara Diet Pepsi ad or the cheeky- sweet . We consume plenty of diet soda ourselves, so we’d love to be able to report that diet sodas are 1. Are Diet Coke and Diet Pepsi Bad For You? There have been a huge variety of serious concerns raised about the health implications of aspartame, the popular sugar substitute used as the primary sweetener found in both of these sodas. Potential issues raised for both drinks include everything from brain tumors to cancers. One of the major causes of obesity is soda. If you want to lose weight, giving up your soda consumption is probably one of the best beginning moves. Diet beverages can help you lose weight, according to a new paper published today in the journal Obesity. The results contradict a number of other recent studies that. Real Food News - Over 150 Sample EZ Weight Loss Meals and Desserts - Condiments - Key Points, Secrets - Supplements - Maintenance Mode on the Ezekiel Diet Files. The good news first: many of these concerns are unfounded. In fact, as of right now, the official stance on aspartame, according to both the European Food Safety Authority and the U. S . Food and Drug Administration is that aspartame has been studied at length and is safe for human consumption. However, for anyone suffering from the genetic disorder phenylketonuria (frequently shortened to PKU), a component of aspartame called phenylalanine can cause really serious conditions such as brain damage, seizures, and mental retardation. Phenylalanine doesn’t just occur in diet drinks, though. It’s a natural part of many foods, including eggs, milk, and meat. Aspartame is also considered unsafe for people who are taking certain medications, such as levodopa, neuroleptics, or monoamine oxidase inhibitors. If you’re taking a medication that you think may be contraindicated with aspartame, you should check with your doctor. On the other hand, since they are sugar- free, Diet Coke and Diet Pepsi are options that are currently considered safe for people who have diabetes. Some have claimed that aspartame- laden drinks actually make people gain more weight. There has been some conflicting evidence on this, but it seems that diet drinks may not have the weight- loss effects that regular drinkers may have desired. It appears that in one study, rats gained the same amount of weight whether they were ingesting saccharin, aspartame, or sucrose (sugar- water). Other studies have shown that weight- gain was promoted by the use of aspartame or saccharin as compared with sucrose, although it was suspected that this might have to do with less energy being expended and that the diet drinks may have encouraged fluid retention. Other concerns have been raised about the general health effects of aspartame. Morando Soffritti, Director of the Ramazzini Institute in Bologna, Italy, has suggested that the initial 1. Since then, he claims, people have done better studies testing the long term potential of aspartame to cause cancer — and those studies suggest that there is genuine cause for concern. Soffritti has been doing active research on aspartame for some time. In 2. 00. 6, he published a large- scale study on the long- term effects of aspartame based on his own research, and he has since urged reform for the way we evaluate aspartame's risks. In terms of cancer, the scientific community seems to still be out on this one: there is plenty of contradictory evidence both ways.
We're going to have to wait and see. And if you're like us risk- taking optimists, you might just do some of that waiting and seeing with a Diet Coke in hand.
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