Type 2 diabetes, also called adult onset diabetes, is a condition that affects how your body uses its available glucose. The glucose level in your food rises after a meal, causing your pancreas to produce insulin and distribute it into your bloodstream. People with diabetes have trouble producing or responding to insulin. Since doctors advise their diabetic patients to reduce their sugar intake, some substitute sweetened soda with diet cola. This may not be the healthiest choice.
Obesity and Insulin
The desire to lose weight may rightfully motivate a switch from sugar-sweetened to diet cola. Weight control plays a crucial role in managing insulin resistance, a common cause of diabetes. Insulin provides transports energy into your muscle and fat cells. While your muscles gladly absorb the insulin, fat cells may try to block it. This worries your pancreas, which tries to remedy the situation by producing more insulin. If your pancreas produces enough insulin to render resistance to it futile, your blood sugar levels normalize. Should the pancreas fail at its mission, your blood glucose levels rise, putting you in a pre-diabetic state.
Diet Cola and Obesity
The switch from sugar sweetened to diet cola makes sense, but unfortunately, it may not work. Sugar, according to researchers at the Harvard School of Public Health, is a source of energy. Your brain responds to sweetness with signals to eat. As the signals gradually slow down, your appetite comes to a halt. Diet drinks provide a sweet taste but without the calories to fill you up. The fake-sweetness inspires you to eat, but the lack of calories prevents you from feeling full.
Research Studies
Two studies illustrate how drinking diet colas may cause you to gain weight and increase your risk of diabetes. A rat study published in "Behavioral Neuroscience" found that rats who consumed artificially-sweetened food consumed less calories than rats who ate the real thing. Another study, published in "Obesity" in 2008 found that adults who drank more than three artificially sweetened beverages a day gained more weight over an eight-year period than those who avoided artificially sweetened beverages.
Caffeine and Diabetes
The caffeine in diet soda also poses problems for diabetic patients, reports Dr. Jack E. James of the National University of Ireland in Galway. The rise in blood sugar that occurs when diabetics eat carbohydrates intensifies when a caffeinated drink accompanies their meal, James told the "Journal of Caffeine Research" in 2011. This may stimulate higher glucose levels and increase your susceptibility to insulin resistance. James acknowledges, however, that since previous studies showed that caffeine may prevent the onset of type 2 diabetes, the subject requires additional research.
References
- Harvard School of Public Health; Sugary Drinks or Diet Drinks: What's the Best Choice?
- "Obesity"; Fueling the Obesity Epidemic? Artificially Sweetened Beverage Use and Long-term Weight Gain; S.P. Fowler; June 2008
- "Behavioral Neuroscience"; A Role for Sweet Taste: Calorie Predictive Relations in Energy Regulation by Rats; S.E. Swithers; February 2008
- "Journal of Caffeine Research"; A New Journal to Advance Caffeine Research; Jack E. James, Ph.D.; 2011
