Pros & Cons Of Drinking Diet Soda

Cool, refreshing and thirst quenching, soda is the beverage of choice for millions of Americans. If you are watching your weight, you will probably choose diet soda. Diet sodas are thought of as the healthier, lighter choice when compared to regular soft drinks. While diet beverages are lower in calories and sugar than non-diet drinks, they may not be as healthy as you think. Drinking diet soda over the short term may aid weight loss, but in the long term may be hazardous to your health.

Weight Loss

Regular soda contains between 10 to 12 tablespoons of sugar in a 12 oz can. Compared to regular soda, diet is a better choice. There is no question that if you drink regular soft drinks and you switch to diet, you will lose weight, because you are cutting a significant amount of calories and sugar from your diet. However, long-term studies of diet soda and weight loss are inconclusive.

Low in Calories

The number one reason for choosing diet soft drinks is the calorie content. On average, diet sodas contain between 0 to 10 calories per 12 oz serving and regular soda provides between 120 to 150 calories. This is a significant reduction in calorie intake. Artificial sweeteners used in diet soft drinks are much sweeter than natural sugar. Manufacturers can therefore use less sweetener while preserving the taste and reducing the number of calories.

Long-Term Weight Gain

Although you may experience weight loss initially, there is no evidence that diet soda promotes long-term weight loss. There is evidence that non-caloric, artificially sweetened, diet beverages actually lead to weight gain. Artificial sweeteners may interact with the body's sense of sugar satisfaction. Certain diet soft drinks taste sweet, even though they are calorie-free. This confuses the taste buds and the brain's satiety measures upon which we base what we eat. This increases hunger and as a result makes you want to consume other sweet foods and beverages.

Nutritional Content

While diet soda may help you meet your fluid needs, it does not provide any other nutritional benefit. Frequent consumption of diet beverages tends to decrease your daily intake of other important beverages such as water and milk. Water is the optimal source for hydration and helps clear toxins from your body. Milk provides you with protein, calcium and vitamin D. Drinking diet soda may interfere with your body's normal hunger signals and discourage you from eating healthy foods that support good nutrition, metabolism, energy and mental function.

Extra Ingredients

Not only does diet soda deprive you of important nutrients, it contains a number of ingredients that work against your body's effort to maintain a healthy balance. Caffeine, a diuretic, is added to soft drinks, especially diet beverages, and causes fluid loss from the body. It is also associated with negative side effects such as headache, fatigue, insomnia and anxiety. Phosphoric acid, another substance in diet soda, depletes calcium from bone stores and disrupts your pH balance. It causes your body to become overly acidic and can erode your teeth and stomach. Other chemicals and additives found in diet soft drinks include sodium, aspartame, acesulfame, brominated vegetable oil, coloring and saccharine.

Increased Risk of Disease

Recent studies have shown a link between diet soda consumption and chronic disease such as metabolic syndrome, type 2 diabetes, heart disease and cancer. According to studies conducted at the Center for Science in the Public Interest, people who drink just one diet soda a day have greater chance of developing metabolic syndrome. Metabolic syndrome is a precursor to diabetes and heart disease. It is characterized by high blood pressure, high blood sugar, abnormal cholesterol levels and weight gain. Manufacturers have used a variety of sugar substitutes in diet sodas. These include additives such as caramel coloring, saccharin, cyclamate and aspartame.