Every health buff knows that drinking a can of soda, with its overload of artificial sweeteners, is worse than consuming a tablespoonful of regular sugar. But what about these diet sodas? Are they really better alternatives for regular soda or is this just another advertising gimmick? New studies show that diet soda is just as bad for you as regular soda. And the artificial sweeteners in diet soda may actually increase your risk of obesity. Additionally, they also increase your chances of having a heart attack. Most people are trying to avoid these issues by drinking diet soda instead of regular soda. However, they are not really doing themselves any good by doing this switch. Here are the reasons why:
Increased Risk for Obesity
The reason why diet soda presents an increased risk for obesity is pretty clear – the human body gets confused by artificial sweeteners. Artificial sweeteners are not something that your body is designed to consume. Your body actually has a hard time regulating the intake of artificial sweeteners because it just doesn’t know what to do with them. The sweet taste may be tricking your body into food processing mode, but with no calories to process. As a result, you will become hungry and end up eating more.
Changes Our Taste Buds
Artificial sweeteners taste much sweeter than the regular sugar. If you drink a lot of artificial sweeteners, your body will get used to the super sweet taste. Then, when it is time to eat natural sources of sugar, your taste buds will not find them sweet enough. The more you drink diet soda, the more likely you are to skip eating healthy foods. Diet soda interrupts the sweetness regulators in your body, which could lead you to unknowingly make unhealthy food choices.
Increased Risk of Heart Attack and Stroke
A study recently published in the Journal of General Internal Medicine showed that people who drank diet sodas on a regular basis had a 43% higher risk of having a heart attack or stroke. The link between diet soda and this risk is not yet understood. It is not related to the increased risk of obesity, as controls were in place to help measure the outcome. Obviously, a lot more research needs to be done before the matter can be fully understood. However, this should be enough warning for soda-lovers to abstain from drinking diet soda. There is a clear risk to your health presented by drinking diet soda and it is not the healthiest things for you to consume.
Sodas- diet or regular- counter your efforts of losing weight. Even the best low fat diet plan could not help you lose weight if you keep drinking this sugar-loaded beverage. If you want to have healthier beverage and food options that still taste good, visit LowFatDietPlan.org.
