Diet soda has come a long way since since its introduction in 1952 as an alternative soft drink for people suffering from diabetes. Since then, it has been transformed into a drink for the calorie conscious and has become one of the best-selling soft drinks on the market. Despite its success, many still wonder about the effects of fake sugar and how the consumption of diet soda differs from consuming sodas with natural sugar.
The Facts: Artificial Sweeteners
Industry website Dietsoda.org states that most diet sodas contain one or more FDA-approved sweeteners such as aspartame, Acesulfame K, neotame, sucralose and saccharin. These synthetic sweeteners are calorie-free and replace the sugar content in the drink, allowing it to be categorized as a diet food. Synthetic sugars are often hundreds to thousands of times sweeter than table sugar and are not absorbed by the your digestive tract or broken down in your large intestine by bacteria.
Effects of artificial sweeteners
The public has raised some concerns about consuming synthetic sweeteners which are feared to cause cancer and other diseases. This fear was exacerbated when some synthetics were shown to cause bladder tumors in lab rats. Consuming any synthetic substance in large amounts can be harmful to your health but scientific research has shown that moderate ingestion of man-made sweeteners is not detrimental to your health.
The facts: sugar
According to the book "Nutrition Concepts and Controversies," sugar consumption has been blamed for a variety of health problems. These include attention deficit disorder/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), and increasing your risk of diseases such as obesity, diabetes, heart disease, gingivitis and tooth decay. In terms of obesity, sugar is further implicated by population studies that show a parallel relationship between the rise in body fat percentage and sugar consumption.
The effects of sugar
Regular sodas often contain more sugar in a single serving than the recommended 9 teaspoons per day. When you consume more sugar calories than your body needs, these calories are stored as body fat. In addition, research shows that liquid calories derived from sugar-sweetened soft drinks eventually lead to an overall increase in calorie intake, which leads to weight gain. Some scientists theorize that the reason liquid sugars lead to weight gain is because your body does not recognize them in the same way which might decrease satiety and increase over-eating.
Diet soda and diet
When dieting, using diet sodas to cut your total calories if you already have a low-calorie diet will bring you some success. In contrast, if you drink diet sodas and stay on a high-calorie diet you might find that your overall intake will stay the same or increase due to you feeling less satisfied by the artificial sweeteners. Diet sodas can be beneficial to weight-loss efforts when used in conjunction with increased physical activity and healthy, low-calorie food choices.
References
- Diet Soda Ingredients
- "Nutrition Concepts and Controversies", 11th Edition F.Sizer & E.Whitney 2008
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