It's funny when you stand behind someone in a fast food restaurant and they order a burger, large fries and a diet soda. You can't help thinking they think the calorie savings of the diet soda will somehow cancel out the hugely calorific meal. As Mayo Clinic nutritionist Katherine Zeratsky explains, "Diet soda isn't a health drink or silver bullet for weight loss. Although switching from regular soda to diet soda may save you calories, some studies suggest that drinking more than one soda a day, diet or not, increases your risk of obesity and type 2 diabetes."
Harmful effects
It's not the zero calories that's the problem in sugar free soda, but the things they add to make it taste good. A recent study by Dr. David Ludwig, founding director of Optimal Weight for Life at the Children's Hospital in Boston, cites three main concerns about diet sodas. One is that artificial sweeteners are sweeter than sugar, and if you consume that level of sweetness on a regular basis, other naturally sweet foods, such as fruit, won't taste as good. Another is the possibility of long-term weight gain. He cites the seven-year San Antonio Heart study, which shows a relationship between consumption of diet drinks and obesity. Finally, he says that diet drinks confuse the taste buds and hunger regulatory system. He refers to a study on rodents, which showed more weight gain in rodents consuming artificial sweeteners than normal sugar.
Kidneys
Studies are conflicting on the effects of diet soda on the kidneys. The good news is that research from Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston shows that the citrate in sugar sodas and particularly some diet forms of those sodas help prevent the formation of kidney stones. The study, published in the "Journal of Urology," says kidney stones form when too much calcium, uric acid and oxalate form stones. Citrate helps prevent the formation of stones. However, research from Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston, based on 3,000 women drinking two or more diet sodas a day doubled the risk of a decline in kidney function. However, this research has not been peer reviewed, and all the participants were white, older women. Even the doctor who led that study, Dr. Julie Lin, conceded, "more study is needed."
Teeth
All sodas are acidic, diet or otherwise. You might well think the sugar in regular soda promotes tooth decay with its sugar content, but according to Dr. Dan Peterson of Family Dental Gentle Care, based in Gering, Nebraska, it's not just the sugar that harms the teeth, but the acid, which "eats" away at tooth enamel. Going back to a bit of high school chemistry, the PH balance in your mouth is generally between 6.2 to 7.0. The pH of soda is much lower, which makes Peterson liken some diet sodas to battery acid. The lower the pH, the more acidic, and the more enamel eroding.
Aspartame
Aspartame is one of the main artificial sweeteners in diet sodas. Though it is approved by the Food and Drug Administration and composed of naturally derived ingredients, it sparks a lot of controversy regarding its health risks and overall safety. Aspartame is made of three chemicals: Aspartic acid, Phenylalanine, and Diketopiperzine. Previous studies on rats suggested a link between aspartame and brain cancer, but that has since been disproved by a larger study conducted by the National Cancer Institute. Clinical Psychiatrist Dr. Ralph Walton, who noticed adverse reactions in some of his patients to aspartame, conducted a double blind study on the adverse reactions of a larger group of mental health patients. The study, published in the journal Biological Psychiatry, showed that those already vulnerable to mental health issues deteriorated after taking aspartame.
Sugar Or sweetener?
A paper published by the Harvard School of Public Health, looking at the pros and cons of sugary soft drinks vs. artificially sweetened ones, pointed out that sugary ones in the first instance are more likely to lead to weight gain. However, the study says it's not as simple as that, and that people who drink many diet drinks tend to eat more solid food, possibly because liquid is not as filling as solid food, and that they might trigger an appetite for more sweet things.
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