Washington – Maybe next they’ll conclude that water makes you fat.
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Diet soda — which has nearly no nutritional value — dangerously bloats waistlines and might boost blood-sugar levels, according to new studies.
People who drink diet soda experienced a 70 percent greater increase in waist circumference over a decade than non-users, a study by the University of Texas Health Science Center San Antonio found.
“The more diet sodas people drank, the more their waists grew,” researcher Sharon Fowler told The Post.
“For people who drink two or more diet sodas a day, their waist increase was five times those who drank no diet sodas — almost two inches.”
Some scientists speculate artificial sweeteners trigger appetite, or inhibit brain cells that signal the feeling of being full.
Helen Hazuda, another of the study’s authors, said “the promotion of diet sodas and artificial sweeteners may be ill-advised.
“They may be free of calories, but not of consequences.”
As if that wasn’t bad enough, University of Texas researchers found in another study that aspartame, a popular artificial sweetener, boosted blood-sugar levels in mice.
The researchers found that mice fed chow containing aspartame and corn oil for three months had higher blood-sugar levels and lower insulin levels — an imbalance that in humans can lead to diabetes, said one of the study’s authors, Gabriel Fernandes.
Both studies were presented at a recent American Diabetes Association conference in San Diego.
Plenty of studies have concluded that diet soda and artificial sweetener make you fat or sick.
A frightening report last winter by University of Miami researchers linked diet soda to an increased risk of stroke and heart attack. Their study was based on a database of Washington Heights residents gathered by Columbia University researchers.
Despite such studies, many scientists are skeptical of the idea that diet soda and artificial sweetener are bad for you.
“I’ve seen people use Sweet’N Low in coffee, and then have a scone. Or someone would have a Diet Coke with their potato chips,” said Lisa Young, a nutritionist who teaches at NYU.
“Maybe people who use artificial sweeteners might be more prone to having other bad habits,” she said.
Scientific studies have a difficult time discounting diet soda drinkers’ other bad habits, concurred NYU nutrition professor Marion Nestle.
I think its cuz ppl who drink diet soda drink it with their pizza, schwarma or double decker hamburger
I would have thought that bad habits or psychology was to blame, such as someone thinking, “I’m drinking diet soda, so that allows me to eat this big piece of chocolate cake.” But that doesn’t explain the fact that mice fed artificial sweeteners developed higher blood-sugar levels and lower insulin, as I doubt the mice would have known or comprehended that they were consuming an artificial sweetener..
and fat foods make you diet
My new study is that regular coke makes u fatter
(pt. 1) There are very good reasons not to ingest aspartame; anyone with a basic understanding of organic chemistry can show you the products of combining the chemical with the HCl in your stomach. This article, however, should be more of a wake-up call about how bad science reporting has gotten in the US. It isn’t diet soda causing the weight gain, it’s eating more. The article mentions geriatric individuals who consume diet soda, but we know that there is also a tendency in older people to exercise less for a number of reasons. A responsible reporter would have at least mentioned if a similar weight gain has been noted in diet soda consumers in other age groups and if there are comparisons that take differences in exercise regimens into account. In other words, if we look at two groups of people, one of which consumes diet soda and one that doesn’t, and which otherwise have similar exercise routines and similar diets, do the consumers gain significantly more weight than the non-consumers? If diet soda is the culprit, then they will. If it isn’t, they won’t.
(pt.2) I’m a biologist with absolutely no stake in the answer to that question. However, I think it’s a shame that misleading and incomplete pieces like this one are published under the guise of science reporting. What people read in outlets like this one affects decisions they make about their lives. It is the responsibility of the media, therefore, to provide them with good information. This article is an excellent example of how the US media is contributing to scientific illiteracy in the name of sensationalism.
It never fails, whenever VIN publishes a story of diet soda making you fat, Yidden come out of the woodwork with denial.
Diet soda causes cancer besides making you fat.
The sweeteners in diet soda are not healthy for you!! Some have been proven to cause cancer!!
Diet Coke in and of itself will not make you any fatter than drinking carbonated water, or for that matter, non-carbonated water. However, eating a couple of Dunkin’ Donuts along with that Diet Coke will make you fatter. Guaranteed.
What these great geniuses fail to realize is that most people who drink diet soda will make up for the reduced calories by fressing in other areas.
It is a shame. I love diet soda with my dinner. I drink water too, but having soda is so much more satisfying. I did find a compromise: Flavored seltzer. It gives me the fizz i enjoy and just a hint of flavor. Nothing artificial about it.
DRINK FILTERED WATER.
What about Coke zero which is my favorite drink since its not diet Coke is it healthier?
You got it all wrong, this study is very unjust and a grave disservice (puting the artificial sweetner health issue aside) we are talking of “overeaters” who are using diet soda, either as justification against guilt, or just having developed a taste for diet soda rather than the oversweetened sugar drinks, it’s the “overeater” part that is responsible for the weight or inches gain. moderate eaters can drink all the diet soda they want, and won’t gain an ounce. Can you imagine, if the “overeater” used regular oversweetned calorie loaded sodas, he would gain so much more weight, and become an even greater health risk for heart attack, stroke, or diabetes. So the uncontrolled overeater is much better off, consuming diet soda, even with pizza, to spare them the extra calories regular soda brings along. Therfore, I challenge the results of this study as inconclusive, unwise, and counter productive…