When taken at face value, diet soda seems like a health-conscious choice. It saves you the 140-plus calories you'd find in a sugary soft drink while still satisfying your urge for something sweet with artificial sweeteners like aspartame, saccharin, and sucralose. But there's more to this chemical cocktail than meets the eye.

 

It confuses your body

Artificial sweeteners have more intense flavor than real sugar, so over time products like diet soda dull our senses to naturally sweet foods like fruit, says Dr. Brooke Alpert, author of The Sugar Detox. Even more troubling, these sugar stand-ins have been shown to have the same effect on your body as sugar. "Artificial sweeteners trigger insulin, which sends your body into fat storage mode and leads to weight gain," Alpert says.

 

 

It could lead to weight gain, not weight loss

Diet soda is calorie-free, but it won't necessarily help you lose weight. Researchers from the University of Texas found that over the course of about a decade, diet soda drinkers had a 70 percent greater increase in waist circumference compared with non-drinkers. And get this: participants who slurped down two or more sodas a day experienced a 500 percent greater increase. The way artificial sweeteners confuse the body may play a part, but another reason might be psychological, says Minnesota-based dietitian Cassie Bjork. When you know you're not consuming any liquid calories, it might be easier to justify that double cheeseburger or extra slice of pizza.

 

 

It's associated with an increased risk of type 2 diabetes

Drinking one diet soda a day was associated with a 36 percent increased risk of metabolic syndrome and diabetes in a University of Minnesota study. Metabolic syndrome describes a cluster of conditions (including high blood pressure, elevated glucose levels, raised cholesterol, and large waist circumference) that put people at high risk for heart disease, stroke, and diabetes, Bjork explains.

 

10 reasons to give up diet soda | Fox News

Great news to hear as I just finish off my Diet Dr. Pepper from McDonald's.

I have gone about 6 years now without any regular or diet soda. If I were to go back though, I would drink the real thing.

And I see this issue has a local flavor:

 

It makes drinking more dangerous

Using diet soda as a low-calorie cocktail mixer has the dangerous effect of getting you drunk faster than sugar-sweetened beverages, according to research from Northern Kentucky University. The study revealed that participants who consumed cocktails mixed with diet drinks had a higher breath alcohol concentration than those who drank alcohol blended with sugared beverages. The researchers believe this is because our bloodstream is able to absorb artificial sweetener more quickly than sugar.

I have gone about 6 years now without any regular or diet soda. If I were to go back though, I would drink the real thing.

Maybe five times a year for me. Been that way since ~ 1999.

I wish I had the will power to quit. But I'm not that upset that I don't. :lol2:

The Internet has made me weary with all their studies that go back and forth. This is just a guess because I don't really want to, but I bet I could find a study (or several) that says the opposite of most of these claims.

 

I can tell you I drink diet drinks like a fish, and it has been quite helpful to me in weight control. Now granted, that's because I'm disciplined and don't fall into the trap mentioned in the article about thinking you can eat more because you have that calorie offset, but still, it's noticeable. There have been times where I would drink a full soft drink with dinners and when I did that over a prolonged period, I put on some pounds. I'll stick with diet drinks.

 

If you TRULY want to avoid the risk, drink water and be done with it.

A couple things.

 

1 - It kills me when I see studies that say, "Compared to not drinking/eating/treating...etc at all." So let me get this straight. Drinking diet soda is unhealthy compared to not drinking soda at all? Or, as some commercials state, taking Tylenol to relieve a headache works 10X better than not taking anything? Whoda thunk it?

 

2 - "Using diet soda as a low-calorie cocktail mixer has the dangerous effect of getting you drunk faster than sugar-sweetened beverages, according to research from Northern Kentucky University." Danger is in the eye of the beholder. Has to save some cash over the course of time.

I never could drink diet soda's as the taste just didn't appeal to me. Diet Mt dew is probably the only one I could stomach but still don't drink it.

I've given up smoking and I've lost lots of weight. I'm still very conscious of what I eat.

 

Diet sodas are one of the few vices I allow myself.

I have gone about 6 years now without any regular or diet soda. If I were to go back though, I would drink the real thing.

 

4 + years for me. I have not had a soda since July 09.

For me... I've quit Copenhagen tobacco (can a day for 25 years) 6 years ago. I've been on a low carb diet for the past 4 years and lost over 100 lbs and kept it off. I figure..I've got to have something that's not good for me and I guess it's diet soda for me. I also drink diet soda like a fish and find it hard to believe that anybody can drink anymore than I do. For me drinking diet drinks did not help me lose weight, but they did help keep from gaining weight. I do not have diabetes, my blood pressure is 110/71, my glucose levels are 89 and cholesterol is 157. Someday I might quit but I have no plans in the near future.

I never could drink diet soda's as the taste just didn't appeal to me. Diet Mt dew is probably the only one I could stomach but still don't drink it.

 

Same. The taste of diet cola is repulsive to me.

 

But I don't really drink a lot of those kinds of drinks anyway.

 

If I have one in a week it's a lot.

For those who don't drink diet beverages, what do you drink (besides water)?

If they study anything long enough, it will cause something of a negative nature. I drink about 95% water, which I am sure is bad for me in some way. I say do what you like in moderation and everything will be okay. My other 5% is caffeine free diet coke.