Link Between Diet soda and Obesity!

I'm sure everyone has heard this argument before but I believe it has ever been completely resolved. Diet soda is known for being a healthy weight loss drink when really there isn't any proof that it is healthier and better for weight loss than regular soda. So is diet soda bad for you?

The University of Texas Health Science Center over went an 8 years study with over 1,550 people of all backgrounds, body types etc. to find out if there is a link between diet soda and obesity.

In their study, they learned that people that drink diet soda have a 41% increase risk in being overweight for every 12 oz can of soda a person consumes each day. But what was more appealing was that people who drink diet soda had a 67% chance of being overweight when people drink regular soda they only had a 47% chance of being overweight.

So for regular soda drinkers, the risk of becoming overweight or obese was:

- 27 percent for up to 6 oz per day
- 31 percent for 6oz to one 12 oz per day
- 33 percent for 12 to 24 oz per day
- 47 percent for more than 24 oz cans each day.

For diet soft-drinkers, the risk of becoming overweight or obese was:

- 37% for up to 6 oz per day
- 40 percent for 6-12 per day
- 57 percent for 12 to 24 oz per day
- 67 percent for more than 24 oz per day.

Another interesting thing I have learned was consuming artificial sweeteners of any kind actually showed to increase people's cravings for food. You can think of it kind of like this; your body thinks your giving it food but the artificial sweeteners are zero calories so it craves food to make up for your bodies hunger leading you to eat more than you would of before.

I always wonder does diet soda really make people gain weight or is it when people think their overweight they start drinking diet soda. I contacted one of my all time favorite fitness professionals to ask him this same question and to my surprise he had done research and an actual study with 100 people on diet vs. regular.

The study consisted of two groups of people having a group drink only regular soda, and the other group drink only diet soda for 3 straight months. After the 3 months a body composition test was taken and the result were unbelievable. The people average weight gain that drank only diet pop was around 3 pounds, and the people that drank regular soda only average about .5 pounds of gained weight. I thought that was interesting.

Now, this does not mean you should drink regular soda and feel like it is healthier. Just remember, a small can of soda has around 50g carbohydrates, and might I add those 50g carbohydrates are very high fructose sugars. What does that mean? It means if you don't burn off those sugars in 15 minutes they will go straight to fat.

My recommendation is to focus getting most of your liquids from water as we are around 75% water, and it controls most of our bodily functions. If your goal is weight loss than having a well balanced diet, and a good weight loss program, is a great way to start, but make sure you follow a true weight loss program that focuses on balanced eating.

Hopefully you enjoyed this article and I wish you a great day!