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‘Artificial sweeteners trigger insulin, which sends your body into fat storage mode and leads to weight gain,’ says Brooke Alpert, RD, author of the book The Sugar Detox. Why is this? According to Perdue University, diet sweeteners trick the body and disrupt its natural ability to regulate calorie intake. But, frequent consumers - defined as consuming two or more diet drinks a day - had a 500% waistline increase over non-users, according to researchers. Two studies done by the School of Medicine at the University of Texas Health Science Center in San Antonio, (one in 2011 and another in 2015), found that two servings of diet soda, specifically Diet Coke, increased waistlines by over three inches.Ĭompared with non-users, diet soft drink consumers had a 70% increase in ‘waist circumference’ than did non-users. It leads to ‘increased waist circumference.’
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Additionally, another study found a 36% greater risk of metabolic syndrome related to drinking diet soda and a 67% greater risk of type 2 diabetes compared with people who did not drink any diet soda.Ĥ. Metabolic syndrome is a group of risk factors that raises your risk for heart disease and other health problems like diabetes and stroke, in addition to increased belly fat and high cholesterol.Ī 2008 study of about 10,000 adults at the University of Minnesota found that 1 soda drink a day led to a 34% increased risk of metabolic syndrome. Several studies have linked diet drinks to increased risk of metabolic syndrome and diabetes.
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It can increase your risk of metabolic syndrome and diabetes. Researchers found that women who drank two or more diet sodas a day had as much as a 30% decrease in kidney function.ģ. ‘While more study is needed, our research suggests that higher sodium and artificially sweetened soda intake are associated with greater rate of decline in kidney function,’ said Dr. Julie Lin MD, MPH, FASN of Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Boston and coauthor of the study. Read more: Doing this 4 times a week drastically reduces heart diseaseĪ study done back in 2009 of over 3,000 women found a link between diet soda and kidney problems. Drinks included Diet Coke, Pepsi Max and other beverages that use artificial sweeteners. The study did not differentiate between diet soda and regular soda - but instead showed an equal amount of risk between both. In the study, 42,400 men were tracked over 12 years and 3,604 cases of a positive association between sweetened beverage consumption and risk of heart failure were found. In addition, 509 people died of the condition. It can harm your heart.Īccording to research from the Karolinska Institute in Sweden, men who drank two or more servings of Diet Coke had a 23% higher risk of developing heart failure. Read more: 13 ‘healthy’ snacks that aren’t healthy at all Here are 5 reasons to avoid drinking diet soda 1. So if you love diet soda but want to cut your risk of disease, it might be a good idea to kick it to the curb! And it isn’t even related to caffeine!Īccording to several different studies, even though diet drinks supposedly consist of zero net calories, they can have a lot of negative effects - including weight gain, kidney problems, increased risk of diabetes and increased risk of depression. If you love Diet Coke or any other diet soda, we might have some bad news for you.
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