Diet soda as their name suggest seem to be a healthier food alternative compared to normal beverages. However, according factual research this is not the case.
To be more precise, researches from iconic institutions such as Purdue University indicates that consuming diet soda is not as harmful to your health but it is likely to make an individual increase weight drastically.
According to a report that was published by author Susan Swithers, it was revealed that artificially sweetened products are not very healthy and they play a key role in assisting individual’s increase their weight. However, preliminary data that supports such findings are not empirically strong, and even though there is a certain school of thought arguing that diet sodas are not as harmful as normal soda beverages, this is not the case.
Over the last five years Swithers and her colleagues have managed to review various studies in relation to diet sodas together with their general impact on human health. According to Swithers report, research scientists were shocked by their findings.
The report revealed that diet sodas are associated with harmful with side effects. Artificially sweetened beverages such as diet soda are associated with cardiovascular diseases, metabolic syndromes, type 2 diabetes, and obesity. It was found that consuming just a single can of diet soda per day can lead to serious health concerns.
The report proceeds to explain that artificial sweeteners and diet soda normally confuses the body that it is consuming real food and sugar, which is not the case, and this particular scenario normally leads into over consumption and metabolic confusion. This messes up the entire digestion system because when a person consumes real sugar, the body does not know whether or not to process it because previously it has been tricked severally.
Today, diet sodas are constantly featuring in headlines due to their perceived health risks and it was just recently in 2011 when a certain study commissioned and conducted by research scientists from Miller Medical school of University of Miami revealed that daily consumption of diet soda was associated with increased risks of stroke and heart attack.
In a blog post published by Huffington Post earlier during the month, it was explained by Dr. Mark Hyman how diet soda makes people increase weight and how generally these beverages are unhealthy.
The information provided was that artificial sweeteners were hundreds to thousands of times sweeter compared to normal sugar. As a result, the human system gets accustomed to sweeter tastes. These artificial sweeteners tricks the human digestion system into thinking that sugar is just on its way, and as result, the body pumps out insulin and fat storage hormone that lays down more belly fat.
Artificial sweeteners also slow down the body’s metabolism rate hence burns less calories. The body gets hungry for more food not mentioning increased crave for sugar and starchy carbs such as pasta and bread.
When animal studies were initiated it was found that animals that consumed artificial sweeteners ate lots of food, and at the same time the metabolism rates slowed down, and these same animals registered a 14% fat increase in just 14 days.
When it comes to human population studies it has been revealed that there is a 200% increase in obesity risk with diet soda drinkers.
According to Swithers, diet sodas should be viewed as ordinary sugary foods and these particular food products should be consumed in fewer quantities.
With information available at the public domain, convincing people to consume diet sodas is an uphill task because the general public is now well educated on the effects of consuming sugary products. More information should be disbursed to limit intakes of all sweeteners not just sugars.
More about Dr. Chad Cohoon
Dr. Cohoon is not only your Functional Healthcare provider in Frisco, Texas, his practice is the flagship Functional Health Center in America. Dr. Cohoon has been providing an alternative to traditional healthcare since 1995, having impacted the lives of thousands of patients from all over the country. A severe asthma sufferer as a child, Dr. Cohoon decided early on that something different should occur with healthcare, and he wanted to be a part of it. Read More