Is “Diet” Soft Drink Making us Fat?

May 19th, 2011 § Leave a Comment

How many “diets” or eating plans have you come across that tell you that you can drink as much diet soft drink as you like as it does not contain any kilojoules.

Photo by Sujin Jetkasettakorn

Many diet soft drinks contain artificial sweeteners such as aspartame and sucralose. According to research, aspartame (also known as NutriSweet and Equal) has been linked to chronic illnesses including brain tumors, multiple sclerosis, chronic fatigue syndrome, alzheimer’s disease and diabetes (to name a few). Aspartame can also cause symptoms including headaches, dizziness, nausea, insomnia, anxiety attacks, joint pain and depression.

Diet soft drinks including Diet Coke, Coke Zero, Schweppes Agrum, Sprite Zero Pepsi Max and Diet Pepsi all contain aspartame. Aspartame is listed as additive number 951 on package labels.

Sucralose (AKA Splenda) is another artificial sweetener used in many products. The marketing tells us that Splenda is made from sugar, so it tastes like sugar and is therefore safe. What they don’t tell us is that sucralose can cause diarrhoea, decrease red blood cell count and enlarged liver and kidneys. Sucralose is produced by chlorinating sugar (sucrose). This involves chemically changing the structure of the sugar molecules by substituting three chlorine atoms for three hydroxyl groups.

The reason that artificial sweeteners can cause weight gain is that our brains intuitively understand that sweetness and calories go together, so when we eat a sweet, tasty food, our brain thinks we’re getting a substantial amount of calories from it. Therefore, our brain sends us the message that we are full or satisfied. Sweetness = calories = the need to stop eating. When the sweet taste accompanies zero calories, our brains become confused and our whole system becomes unable to determine appropriate amounts of foods to eat in order to maintain a healthy weight. In fact, diet soft drink can actually make you feel hungrier!

There is no substitute for water as a way of re hydrating your body. When I first gave up diet soft drinks, I drank plenty of mineral water or soda water with a bit of lime or lemon in it for flavour. I found that the bubbles in the water was enough to give me the feeling I got when I drank diet soft drink, without the dangerous chemicals.