Diet Soda dangers
There Are Dangers in Drinking Diet Soda
A new study has found that the artificial sweeteners in diet soda can cause weight gain, metabolic syndrome, diabetes, and heart disease, adding to mounting research about the potential health risks of diet soft drinks.
And that’s not all—the study also found that the artificial sweeteners in diet soda can interfere with your body’s normal response to sugar, deregulating normal blood sugar levels even more than regular soda.
That’s because the fake sugar essentially tricks your body into thinking you’re taking in the calories associated with the sweet taste. But that means the body doesn’t know how to process real sugar—and fails to release the hormone that controls blood sugar and blood pressure.
The study, conducted by researchers at Purdue University, incorporated 40 years of research on the effects of artificial sweeteners and the health problems associated with diet soda.
No surprise: the American Beverage Association begs to differ. “Low-calorie sweeteners are some of the most studied and reviewed ingredients in the food supply today,” said the ABA said in a statement. “They are safe and an effective tool in weight loss and weight management, according to decades of scientific research and regulatory agencies around the globe.”
The ABA noted that the Purdue research was technically published as an opinion piece, not a scientific study.
But Susan Swithers, the author of the Purdue study, issued her own statement, noting that soda drinkers aren’t always given the correct facts about the health consequences of drinking diet soda. "It is not uncommon for people to be given messages that artificially sweetened products are healthy, will help them lose weight, or will help prevent weight gain," Swithers said. "The data to support those claims are not very strong, and although it seems like common sense that diet sodas would not be as problematic as regular sodas, common sense is not always right."
Swithers’ study
A new study has found that the artificial sweeteners in diet soda can cause weight gain, metabolic syndrome, diabetes, and heart disease, adding to mounting research about the potential health risks of diet soft drinks.
And that’s not all—the study also found that the artificial sweeteners in diet soda can interfere with your body’s normal response to sugar, deregulating normal blood sugar levels even more than regular soda.
That’s because the fake sugar essentially tricks your body into thinking you’re taking in the calories associated with the sweet taste. But that means the body doesn’t know how to process real sugar—and fails to release the hormone that controls blood sugar and blood pressure.
The study, conducted by researchers at Purdue University, incorporated 40 years of research on the effects of artificial sweeteners and the health problems associated with diet soda.
No surprise: the American Beverage Association begs to differ. “Low-calorie sweeteners are some of the most studied and reviewed ingredients in the food supply today,” said the ABA said in a statement. “They are safe and an effective tool in weight loss and weight management, according to decades of scientific research and regulatory agencies around the globe.”
The ABA noted that the Purdue research was technically published as an opinion piece, not a scientific study.
But Susan Swithers, the author of the Purdue study, issued her own statement, noting that soda drinkers aren’t always given the correct facts about the health consequences of drinking diet soda. "It is not uncommon for people to be given messages that artificially sweetened products are healthy, will help them lose weight, or will help prevent weight gain," Swithers said. "The data to support those claims are not very strong, and although it seems like common sense that diet sodas would not be as problematic as regular sodas, common sense is not always right."
Swithers’ study