Do Diet Sodas Cause Obesity?
Sensational stories sell papers, but they frequently distort the truth. The first sentence in a story linking obesity with diet soda said this. "People who drink diet soft drinks don't lose weight. In fact, they gain weight, a new study shows."
It's a blanket statement that is quite simply, false. Plenty of people who drink diet soft drinks lose weight. In fact, a study published in 2007 by Purdue University in Indiana found that, "diet soda prone consumers make better nutrition choices, particularly regarding energy content."
It didn't matter. The myth that diet soda causes people to gain weight is alive and is now being passed on in dozens of news stories, hundreds of blogs and millions of emails.
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Lets take a look at the research that prompted many of those misleading headlines. The title of the study was, "Fueling the obesity epidemic? Artificially sweetened beverage use and long-term weight gain." Sharon P. Fowler and her colleagues at the University of Texas Health Science Center in San Antonio, Texas conducted it.
The researchers followed 3,682 participants over "seven to eight years." Their goal was to, "examine the relationship between artificially sweetened beverage (ASB) consumption and long-term weight gain..."
They made a connection. At the end of the study, it was found that people who drank 21 or more diet sodas a week, are nearly twice as likely to be overweight or obese than people who didn't drink diet soda.
Notice something important? They didn't say diet soda was the reason for the weight gain. They couldn't because diet sodas have little or no calories. What they said is drinking diet soda is an INDICATOR that you're more likely to become fat or obese. Now the real question is, why?
There are three theories.
Theory One - Diet soda washes away the guilt. Have you ever been at a fast food restaurant and heard an order like this? "I'll have a double burger with bacon, large fries, apple pie and a DIET soda." The person making that order is not eating healthy. A meal like that has more than 900 calories and two days supply of fat. But by making the drink a diet, they've somehow convinced themselves they're doing the right thing to keep the fat off.
Fix it by keeping track of ALL your calories, don't just order a diet drink and think it'll be enough. When you eat more than you burn off, you gain weight and eventually become obese. You've got to log everything you eat and drink, not just the convenient stuff.
Theory Two - Drinking a diet soda alone can lead to binge behavior. A common tactic people use to lose weight is starving themselves. They go for long periods of food deprivation while giving their bodies nothing but calorie free drinks. When they finally do take the time to eat, they're ravenous. Smart choices go out the window and high calorie convenience food is shoveled in. All those hours of deprivation are trashed as they wolf down pizza, cookies or other junk food in order to stop the hunger.
Fix it by eating something every two to three hours. Go ahead and drink a diet soda, but accompany it with half a light sandwich, soup, vegetables, whole fruit or healthy frozen meal. Then when your regular mealtime comes around, you won't be so hungry you settle for the fastest and fattiest thing you can get your hands on.
Theory Three - Drinking diet soda stimulates appetite. Some researchers believe when the brain registers the taste of a diet drink; it also expects calories to come along. When there are none, your brain signals you to go out and get some nourishment.
Fix it by eating a little something every time you drink a diet soda. The same things you eat to avoid a binge are appropriate. Your brain gets the pleasurable taste and your body gets the calories it craves.
Drinking diet soda alone will not cause obesity. But using diet soda as a guilt shield, to avoid hunger pains or without a light snack for nutrition may lead to overeating. Don't hide behind the diet drink, confront and control the calories.
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Scary Fact:
A study in Cancer Epidemiology Biomarkers & Prevention revealed that two or more regular sodas a week could raise your risk of pancreatic cancer by 87% over people who didn't drink soda!
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