If you are a fan of diet sodas, then you will find this article very enlightening as we are going to look into why diet soda is bad for you.
Advertising agencies are notorious for focusing on the good in products and completely overlooking how those products might be harmful.
While these things are coming to light more and more often these days, there is still a lot of work that needs to be done in this field. For example, look at diet sodas.
These sodas were introduced to the public as an alternative, calorie free option for those who wanted to enjoy fizzy drinks.
At face value, this sounds like an ideal situation. However, recent studies on diet cokes have revealed that they might not be as wonderful as originally thought.
Reason Why Diet Sodas are Bad for You
The biggest issue that experts are finding with diet drinks is that they are artificially flavored.
While there are several healthy, all-natural alternative ways of sweetening drinks, the ones used in diet cokes are none of those things.
In fact, a recent study found that saccharin, an artificial sweetener, leads to more weight gain than regular sucrose, or sugar.
While sugar is definitely something that should be used in moderation, it’s still less sweet than artificial sweeteners.
For diet cokes to taste similar to the non-diet versions of the drink, these sweeteners need to be 100 times more sweet than sugar.
This is startling information by itself, but it becomes even worse when the harm it does to the body becomes clear.
Because the body becomes accustomed to expecting foods and drinks to be sweeter, it no longer can taste the full flavors of naturally sweetened foods, like fruit.
People who drink excessive amounts of diet coke find that over time their taste buds are so desensitized that regular foods become bland.
The most commonly used artificial sweetener, aspartame, doesn’t just confuse the taste buds, it also wreaks havoc on the chemicals in the brain.
Aspartame slowly begins to alter the nerves in the brain, as well as the signals those nerves send to the rest of the body.
An animal study done recently found that prolonged intake of diet sodas damaged the part of the brain that controls motor skills, the cerebellum.
The worst part about all this damage is that it often shows itself through headaches, insomnia, and anxiety.
Why Diet Soda Makes You Fat
Most people drink diet coke because they feel that taking in fewer calories will help them lose or maintain their weight. Unfortunately, this isn’t true. A study done recently looked at why people who drink diet coke seem to gain weight.
It was found that even part of a serving of diet coke can stimulate the pancreas into creating insulin, which is a hormone that stores fat. If diet coke is consumed consistently, the pancreas continues releasing this hormone, which can lead to diabetes.
Diet coke doesn’t just affect the biology of the body, it also changes how people view what they eat.
Diet cokes have few to no calories, which makes many people feel that they can consume calories elsewhere. Unfortunately, this often leads to people overeating, particularly foods that aren’t good for them in the first place.
And, since diet sodas are often offered with fast food, this problem continues to grow and hinder weight loss goals.
Finally, the scariest thing about diet coke and why it might be bad for you is that there isn’t a lot of research on the topic.
There have been several studies done on artificial sweeteners and the diseases they might cause, but other issues haven’t been looked at in the long-term.
As more and more artificial sweeteners are used in drinks and foods, the idea that there’s no clear idea of whether or not they cause lasting harm is extremely scary.
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