While many have been led to believe that diet sodas are better for you than their full-fat counterparts, they might not be that good for us after all.
According to Coca-Cola (which have a series of different beverages), more than 1.9 billion servings of its drinks are enjoyed in more than 200 countries each day.
Obviously, its most famous drink is the classic Coca-Cola and remains as the company’s best-seller, but it also has diet alternatives like Diet Coke, Coca-Cola Zero, and other ‘zero’ versions of its different sodas.
Meanwhile, PepsiCo‘s products are consumed more than one billion times a day in over 200 countries.
Basically, we drink a lot of drinks on a daily basis, and you might be surprised to know that the US doesn’t sit at the world’s top consumer for sodas – Hungary does.
Hungarians drink 310 liters of soda per capita each year, which makes them the biggest consumers of the sugary drinks in the world, as per World Population Review.
For any soda addicts out there, switching from a regular drink to a diet drink will have health benefits – particularly when it comes to calories – but apparently, ‘your body won’t be fooled for long’.
Diet sodas may not be very good for you after all (Getty Stock)
The issue? Artificial sweeteners.
Discussing this, registered dietitian Susan Campbell, RD, LD says, as per Cleveland Clinic: “Research suggests that your body reacts to certain nonnutritive foods, including the artificial sweeteners in diet soda, in ways that may actually harm your health.”
As to how it harms your health, there a several different ways.
Weight gain
Some research has suggested that artificial sweeteners may cause increased consumption of high-calorie foods.
A study dating back to 2015 found that of nearly 800 people over 65 years old, diet soda intake was linked to increasing abdominal obesity.
Other research has found that those who drink a lot of artificially sweetened beverages were more likely to report having a higher BMI, USA Today says.
Diet sodas may cause weight gain for some people (Getty Stock)
Increased risk of cardiovascular disease
A study conducted by Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons and the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine found that, after following 2,500 participants for over a decade, a group that frequently drank diet sodas had a 43 percent higher chance of cardiovascular disease, (such as a heart attack), compared to another group who drank regular soda.
Potential link to type two diabetes
This one’s a bit of a head-scratcher, because you’d think that having less sugary drinks would lower your changes of getting type two diabetes, right?
Well, some research has suggested that other health complications linked to diet soda consumption may later lead to type two diabetes.
“A study has suggested that drinking more than two diet fizzy drinks a day could be linked with a form of diabetes called LADA, or latent autoimmune diabetes in adult,” writes Patient.
The website also made reference to a 2009 study that found that people who had just one diet soda a day were 67 percent more likely to develop type two diabetes.