Why Not Drink Diet Soda?

A tip often given to dieters is to stop drinking sodas, which are laden with waist-increasing calories and sugar. As a result, soda drinkers often make a switch to diet drinks, assuming they are better because the calories and sugar are absent. While you may be aware that diet soda does not provide any nutritional benefit, you may not be aware that drinking it regularly can actually cause more problems with your health, not less.

Metabolic Syndrome

In a study reported in "The New York Times" that tracked more than 9,500 men and women over nine years, researchers found that those who drank at least one diet soda a day compared to those who drank none, had a 34 percent greater risk of developing metabolic syndrome.

Metabolic syndrome is a potentially dangerous collection of symptoms, such as high blood pressure, high cholesterol, increased blood glucose, and abdominal obesity that has been linked to an increased risk for cardiovascular disease and diabetes.

Osteoporosis

A main ingredient in soda is phosphoric acid. Whether calorie and caffeine filled or not, it is used as a flavoring agent. It causes increased acidity in the blood, which your body then attempts to regulate by drawing out calcium.

Katherine Tucker, a senior scientist and director of the dietary assessment and epidemiology research program at Tufts University, has found that as little as three diet sodas a week can lead to significant bone loss in women.

Weight Gain

A 2005 study at the University of Texas Health Sciences Center found that with each diet soda consumed, a person has a 41 percent increased risk of becoming obese within the next seven to eight years, though a direct cause-effect link has not been found, according to an article in "Newsweek."

In 2004, Professor Terry Davidson and Assistant Professor Susan Swithers, both in the Department of Psychological Sciences at Purdue University, piloted a study in rats that related artificial sweeteners to weight gain. They concluded that the artificial sweeteners may alter metabolism as well as induce cravings for sweet foods.

Kidney Damage

Another result of the phosphoric acid in diet sodas is an association with kidney stones and chronic kidney dysfunction. A 2008 study in "Epidemiology" by TM Saldana and associates looked at 465 people with chronic kidney disease compared to 467 healthy people. After controlling for other factors, researchers found a two-fold increase in the risk of kidney disease among those who drank two or more sodas a day. The results were the same whether the soda was artificially sweetened or not.

Effects on the Brain

Aspartame is used as the artificial sweetener for most diet sodas and has long been a subject of researchers. It is made up of phenylalanine, aspartic acid and methanol, which when consumed is converted into other chemicals. These chemicals can be excreted or converted to formaldehyde and diketopiperazine, known carcinogens. Though approved for use by the FDA, researchers have found that some people have sensitivities to the sweetener, which can result in migraines and possibly even changes in brain function.