The Assault on Diet Soda

I've seen a couple of articles today (I'm writing this on the 29th for publication on the 30th) about diet soda causing weight gain instead of weight loss.

How can this be true?

Well, first of all take a good look at the articles talking about this. The study from which the conclusions are drawn consisted of "474 older adults".

And from a study of 474 people, diet soda is to be demonized? A study of older adults, who very likely do not exercise at all?

You want to know why people who drink diet soda gain weight? It's because they've just drunk something that had no calories, but they know that a real can of soda would have had 150 calories. So, they now have a license to consume 150 calories worth of food, which they do. Only sometimes that 150 is actually 300...

Diet soda is bad for you, yes - because of the artificial ingredient aspertame. You want to drink something sweet, have a real Pepsi or a real Coke. Just don't have more than one or two in a day.

http://healthland.time.com/2011/06/29/studies-why-diet-sodas-are-no-boon-to-dieters/#ixzz1QjoXwv62
More bad news, diet soda drinkers: data presented recently at the American Diabetes Association's (ADA) Scientific Sessions suggest that diet drinks may actually contribute to weight gain and that the artificial sweeteners in them could potentially contribute Type 2 diabetes.
In one study, researchers from the School of Medicine at The University of Texas Health Science Center San Antonio, looked at aggregate data from 474 older adults in the San Antonio Longitudinal Study of Aging, or SALSA. At the time of enrollment and at three follow-up exams thereafter, all participants reported their diet soda intake and were measured for height, weight and waist circumference. The researchers wanted to track any association between diet soda drinking and body fat over time.

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.

MORE: Study: How 'Fake' Fats Can Make You Really Fat

The data didn't say why diet sodas might play a role in weight gain, but previous research suggests it has to do with the disconnect between the taste of artificial sugars and their lack of calories. The brain is wired to expect a big load of calories when foods taste sweet or fatty. But because diet foods fail to deliver, it throws the brain out of whack. Studies in animals suggest that artificial sweetener consumption may lead to even more eating and weight gain, perhaps in part because it triggers the body to start storing more calories as fat.

Excess weight, especially around the belly, as measured in the SALSA participants, is a risk factor for a variety of ills, including cardiovascular disease and diabetes.

In another study presented at the ADA meeting, researchers found an association between consumption of aspartame, an artificial sweetener found in many diet drinks, and elevated fasting glucose levels in mice.

The researchers, also from the School of Medicine at The University of Texas Health Science Center San Antonio, fed 40 mice their typical chow with added corn oil (to make the diet high-fat). For the half the mice, researchers also added aspartame to their food. After three months, researchers found that the mice in the aspartame group had elevated fasting glucose levels, an indication of a diabetic or pre-diabetic condition.