Diet soda: the solution or another problem??

Important stuff my little Nutrinutters,

Calories have been for a while labeled as the great villains. “How can I possibly lose weight and fit into a size zero if even lettuce has them???” might have crossed your mind and realistically speaking who has lettuce cravings? My comfort food is chocolate…any form of it….wouldn't it be great if there were no calories in chocolate? Then we discover that there is the miracle powder that turns foods sweet without adding extra calories like in the case of sugars, the sweeteners. Seems like the most perfect solution: I eat what I love and don’t have to pay for it later in the gym..Wooo! Now we are talking!

Does anyone else think that this sounds too good to be true though?

Accumulating evidence suggests that consumers using artificial sweetened beverages on a regular basis, just like regular sugar-sweetened beverage consumers are at increased risk of weight gain, metabolic syndrome, type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular disease. But wait? How does that make any sense? If I am consuming something that has no calories, such as a diet soda, how can I still be at high risk for all of those?

Although scientists (and try not to cringe at the word ) have not been able to fully explain this, observations were made based on different results from a significant amount of studies conducted on the effects caused by the frequent intake of artificial sweeteners. You might be questioning this information with the following thought process “someone with a higher body weight might want to turn to sweeteners in an attempt to lose weight; therefore it would make sense for sweeteners to be associated with weight gain and all of the others”. Seems logical, however, these results were observed in people that were not initially overweight or obese as well. So how can this be explained? 

One possibility is that sweeteners are seen as “healthy”. This allows people to think that it's alright to splurge on other “unhealthy” foods since they are compensating the calories. The famous “I can have the large fries because I’m drinking diet soda instead of regular”. Sound familiar to anyone? :)

Another way to look at this is by remembering that sweet tastes are known to cause many body responses that help you maintain energy balance. This happens due to the ability that sweet tastes have in sending signals to your gut, letting it know that nutrients have arrived in order to help with absorption and utilization of the energy from foods. In the case of artificial sweeteners, the sweet taste is still present, but the calories do not arrive. This seems pretty harmless, as long as the calories are not in my body, it works for me! The problem with this is if you are a daily or even frequent consumer of artificial sweeteners, you are weakening this association your body makes with the sweet taste reducing how efficient it will be to utilize the energy or calories received from foods. It is also believed that this affects the ability your body has in letting you know when you are full. If one does not recognize when they are full, the chances of overeating are great.

Does this mean that we are better off sticking with regular soda? Not quite…

The importance of all this or the "take home message" is just to be aware that artificial sweeteners and diet beverages are not as good as they sound. Sugar AND artificial sweeteners consumption must be monitored and done so with caution. When looking to lose weight, the best substitute for sugar sweetened drinks is still water.

-The Nutrinut-