Soda kills. Diet soda kills just as many. (And so do artificial sweeteners in other products.)
There have been a series of artificial sweeteners – saccharin, cyclamate, aspartame, acesulfame, sucralose, agave nectar, stevia. They make a unique promise – you can have your cake and eat it too. But as has been proven again and again, there is no such thing as a free lunch.
As in previous blog posts these studies show association NOT causation. Problem is, randomized controlled trials are all but impossible for dietary patterns over a long duration of time.
ARIC (Atherosclerosis Risk In Communities) showed that diet soda promoted metabolic syndrome.
The SALSA (San Antonio Longitudinal Study of Aging) showed that waist circumference increased with diet soda use – 0.80 inches for nonusers, 1.83 inches for occasional users, and 3.16 for daily users over the total SALSA follow‐up.
Stellman studied 78,000 women over 1 year. Artificial sweetener uses had weight gain of 0.5 to 1.5 lbs compared to non users.
Data from the Framingham Heart Study showed that people who drank diet soda daily were three times as likely to develop stroke and dementia compared to controls.
How do diet sodas cause harm?
Artificial sweeteners raise insulin levels. High levels of insulin are responsible for metabolic syndrome
Artificial sweeteners are also more intensely sweet compared to sugar and may cause taste distortion and future cravings for intensely sweet foods.