Diet Soda is Not the Healthier Option

Many people are under the impression that diet soda is better for you than regular soda.  Sure, it has less, if any, calories but that isn’t the only thing people should be looking out for.  I’m sure most people have been told that the chemicals in diet soda are worse for you than the sugar and calories in regular soda. So where is the research to back up this claim?

According to the Huffington Post article, This Might Explain Why Diet Soda Drinkers Are Often Overweight, researchers from the Weizmann Institute of Science in Israel have discovered that, “artificial sweeteners may have a deleterious effect on our gut bacteria.” This can further cause a glucose intolerance that can lead to obesity and diabetes. Therefore, people who drink diet sodas think they are doing their bodies a favor; however, they are ultimately contradicting themselves.

Dr. Eran Elinav primarily conducted studies on mice.  He established a control group: mice received either plain or sugar water.  His experimental groups received water with an artificial sweetener such as sucralose, aspartame, or saccharin. Dr. Elinav found that, “the mice who had been drinking artificially sweetened water developed significant glucose intolerance.”

When he took his research and studied human subjects, he found similar results. “He found that those who reported eating more artificial sweeteners were more likely to be heavier, have larger waists and higher blood glucose levels when fasting.”

After hearing that diet soda is bad for you all my life, I’m glad that I found research to back up this theory.  Although I’m not sure of further research, this study seemed pretty legitimate.  I never drink diet soda myself and neither should anyone else if they want to avoid various health complications.

NO-DIET-SODA

Sources:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/09/18/artificial-sweeteners-gut-bacteria_n_5837646.html?ir=Healthy+Living

6 thoughts on “Diet Soda is Not the Healthier Option

  1. Brittney Christina Falcon

    You share my sentiment exactly! These artificial sweeteners are also used in a variety of products ranging from “sugar free” gum to “sugar free” cookies and rather than having fewer calories they often have more. Which leads me wonder wether the “fake” sugar is causing weight gain in consumers or rather excess calorie consumption as a result of being misinformed? Just a possibility.

  2. Casey Jordan Leuenberger

    I actually love diet coke! It’s part of who I am! I’ve always had a diet coke addiction! I drink diet coke not because I believe that it’s healthier, but simply because I love the taste. Although recently I have seriously cut back on my preferable beverage. Diet soda has been linked to kidney problems, messed-up metabolism, obesity, cell damage, bad teeth, and even reproductive issues. You can read more about the side effectshere

  3. Sarah Abdallah

    I completely agree, but I also think no soda would be the best option. Here’s a link to what is in soda. Makes me wonder why we can’t pronounce at least half of the ingredients but still continue to put it in our bodies.

  4. Kelsey Huber

    Being that I’m not a soda drinker at all, I think diet and regular are both terrible drink choices. But if you were going to drink soda, I would just drink the regular version. It’s just as high or even higher in sodium and is not the “healthier” option. If you are trying to be healthy, the best option is to cut soda out of your diet in general. It is artificial and has no benefit to your diet/health, diet or not. Here is a perfect explanation why you should eliminate soda all together http://www.fitday.com/fitness-articles/fitness/weight-loss/want-to-lose-weight-fast-cut-out-soda-from-your-diet.html#b

  5. Jiayi Wang

    I totally agree with you that soda is really unhealthy!! I used to read an article saying that drinking a can of coke equals to eating 20 cubes of sugar!!!!How horrible is that. And I am really glad I quit soda for a long time haha. However I feel like not only soda should be abandon but also those artificial fruity drink shouold be banned as well. Here is an article say artificial drink may cause cancer!!! http://truthstreammedia.com/artificial-fruit-drink-creates-cancer-causing-by-product/

  6. Heather Elise Wagner

    Artificial sweeteners are never good for you! I really enjoy your blog because it drives me insane that people actually believe that they are making a “healthier” choice when they drink coke zero instead of coke. Obviously all soda in general isn’t good for you. advertisements in the media have convinced people that just because something is zero calories you can drink it and have no side effects. So many people don’t even realize how high in sodium many diet sodas actually are.

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