Diet Sodas May Cause Weight Gain, Diabetes

[Puppycow]

I know that "correlation does not mean causation. . . yada, yada, yada." But look at this:
Studies: Why Diet Sodas Are No Benefit to Dieters

What they found was that all participants saw their waistlines expand, but those who reported drinking diet soda had 70% greater increases in waistline growth than non-drinkers 9.5 years later. Among frequent drinkers — those who consumed two or more diet sodas a day — waistline growth was 500% greater than among non-drinkers. Researchers said their results were adjusted for other contributing factors like diabetes status, leisure-time physical activity level and age.

My recommendation is good ol' H2O. Tastes better than diet soda anyway.

 

[AlBell]

My recommendation is merge this in the Integrity of Medical Research thread.

 

[EvilSmurf]

I think that it may be that diet soda drinkers tend to be generally unhealthy people who "compensate" for their unhealthy eating habits to drink a diet soda to "balance" it. It does not work.

 

[Greedo]

I think that it may be that diet soda drinkers tend to be generally unhealthy people who "compensate" for their unhealthy eating habits to drink a diet soda to "balance" it. It does not work.

^this

For years I drink diet soda everyday. My waist line hasn't changed one inch. And I am skinny. I don't do sports.

 

[Puppycow]

I think that it may be that diet soda drinkers tend to be generally unhealthy people who "compensate" for their unhealthy eating habits to drink a diet soda to "balance" it. It does not work.

It's possible, but it's also possible that they (artificial sweeteners) disrupt your metabolism somehow. The research on rats seems to suggest this, because the amount of food they were given was controlled.

 

[Pup]

It's possible, but it's also possible that they (artificial sweeteners) disrupt your metabolism somehow. The research on rats seems to suggest this, because the amount of food they were given was controlled.

People see this as a negative thing, but if this is true, then we should be doing more tests to confirm it, then shipping artificial sweeteners to famine-struck areas along with food. If artificial sweeteners change the metabolism so people burn less calories with the same activity, hungry people would be able to maintain their weight on less food.

Any research been done on that?

 

[Travis]

It's possible, but it's also possible that they (artificial sweeteners) disrupt your metabolism somehow. The research on rats seems to suggest this, because the amount of food they were given was controlled.

IIRC one study with results that no else has been able to replicate might have indicated that.

Personally I've lost lots of fat and stabilized my blood sugar levels with diet sodas.

 

[Aepervius]

It's possible, but it's also possible that they (artificial sweeteners) disrupt your metabolism somehow. The research on rats seems to suggest this, because the amount of food they were given was controlled.

Was that a lone study and ever reproduced ? Because I can't see much a mechanism where for controlled amount of calory intake about similar as the outtake (exercize), you suddenly start to gain weight. The only way I "naively" see artificial sweetener "disrupting" your metabolism, is by influcing insuline production, and increasing your apetite for sweet stuff in other word making yourself increase what you eat.

 

[Sledge]

Anecdotal but what the heck: switched from drinking regular Coke to diet lemonade (about 4 litres a week of each). All other aspects of diet remained the same. Lost two inches from wasteline. I reject your reality and substitute my own.

 

[BobHaulk]

what's going on here, diet soda? Horrible. A nice cup of tea about 15 times a day should keep you in tip top condition.

 

[Kuko 4000]

Anecdotal but what the heck: switched from drinking regular Coke to diet lemonade (about 4 litres a week of each). All other aspects of diet remained the same. Lost two inches from wasteline. I reject your reality and substitute my own.

His reality was this though:

Among frequent drinkers — those who consumed two or more diet sodas a day — waistline growth was 500% greater than among non-drinkers.

Which I don't find surprising at all.

 

[Aepervius]

His reality was this though:




Which I don't find surprising at all.

In other news, people dieting are much more often overweight. Therefore dieting causes overweighting.

 

[icerat]

Was that a lone study and ever reproduced ? Because I can't see much a mechanism where for controlled amount of calory intake about similar as the outtake (exercize), you suddenly start to gain weight. The only way I "naively" see artificial sweetener "disrupting" your metabolism, is by influcing insuline production, and increasing your apetite for sweet stuff in other word making yourself increase what you eat.

There's a common fallacy that "calory intake" is the same as "calories ingested" There's quite a lot of individual variability in what happens in the digestive tract and that can be influenced by various factors.

Calorie "outtake" is also not so simple, including not only exercise but also of course BMR, which can be influenced.

Whether artificial sweetners have any effect on either of these, no idea.

 

[plindboe]

Diet Sodas May Cause Weight Gain

Seems more likely that the causation is the other way around. When people are concerned about their weight they will tend to switch from drinks with sugars to drinks with sweeteners, so there will be a correlation between weight gain and usage of sweeteners.

Perhaps I'm missing something, but this seems a rather obvious conclusion, while the one suggested by the title seems rather unlikely.

 

[Puppycow]

His reality was this though:




Which I don't find surprising at all.

"Non-drinkers" here meaning people who don't drink diet soda. They drink other beverages presumably.

 

[gumboot]

Anecdotal but what the heck: switched from drinking regular Coke to diet lemonade (about 4 litres a week of each). All other aspects of diet remained the same. Lost two inches from wasteline. I reject your reality and substitute my own.

I have a similar account. I've always been relatively slender/athletic of frame and fairly active, but over the last couple of years a combination of excellent catered meals at work and 60+hr days have seen me put on enough weight that I was looking "normal" instead of "skinny".

Earlier this year I switched from drinking normal coke to coke-zero, and I've noticed an undeniable drop in body fat. I'm actually back to being "skinny" again (unfortunately).

 

[rjh01]

In other news, people dieting are much more often overweight. Therefore dieting causes overweighting.

Actually, you are not too far wrong. If a person losses muscle mass as part of the diet, then goes off the diet and regains the weight they would be in a worse position than they would have been if they had not been on the diet. Look up yo-yo dieting.

As for diet sodas making people fat that can happen. The body knows it is not fooled and demands more sugar. So they eat more. Best thing to drink if you are thirsty is tap water. Far cheaper if nothing else.

I do not have the interest in the topic to do post links, but if you want to educate yourself then at least you can look for these things.

Edit. But things are never simple when it comes to diet. For example Diet Sodas Cause Weight Gain? Not so Fast

 

[EHocking]

Was that a lone study and ever reproduced ? Because I can't see much a mechanism where for controlled amount of calory intake about similar as the outtake (exercize), you suddenly start to gain weight. The only way I "naively" see artificial sweetener "disrupting" your metabolism, is by influcing insuline production, and increasing your apetite for sweet stuff in other word making yourself increase what you eat.

A theory/study I had read about recently on this Forum was that sugar satiates a hormone(?) that acts as a hunger suppressant, whereas non-sugar sweeteners do not.

So, drinkers of sugar-sweetened sodas have their appetites satiated and eat less than drinkers of artifically-sweetened sodas.

Weight gain, if all else is equal, is directly related to calory intake.

The above is a simplification, 'cos I'm too lazy to search for the thread at JREF.

 

[Professor Yaffle]

A theory/study I had read about recently on this Forum was that sugar satiates a hormone(?) that acts as a hunger suppressant, whereas non-sugar sweeteners do not.

So, drinkers of sugar-sweetened sodas have their appetites satiated and eat less than drinkers of artifically-sweetened sodas.

Weight gain, if all else is equal, is directly related to calory intake.

The above is a simplification, 'cos I'm too lazy to search for the thread at JREF.

The evidence for artificial sweeteners increasing appetite and subsequent calorie intake is pretty mixed. There are a few relevant studies linked in this blog post:

http://wordpress.kylegrieve.com/wp/...-and-blood-glucose-fat-gain-and-genotoxicity/

 

[EHocking]

The evidence for artificial sweeteners increasing appetite and subsequent calorie intake is pretty mixed. There are a few relevant studies linked in this blog post:

http://wordpress.kylegrieve.com/wp/...-and-blood-glucose-fat-gain-and-genotoxicity/

You're going to make me look for my cite now, aren't you.

The argument wasn't so much that AS increased appetite, but that AS did not suppress appetite as much as sugar. A subtle difference, but significant.

ETA: Damn. I read it via on of YOUR posts, in a thread also started by PuppyCow on basically the same subject and recently perhaps in the thread "Fructose is bad for you".