Do not get confuse with the language! “Diet soda” sounds healthy, yet that is far from the reality. It will ruin your health more than benefiting it in any way. All diet sodas are undoubtedly devoid of calories, contain a substantial amount of artificial sweeteners and are carbonated, which make them harmful for our health in many ways.
If you are still thinking of beating the summer heat and quenching your thirst with a diet soda, here are a number of quite alarming reasons why you should rethink.
Heart Failure
Karolinska Institute in Sweden found in its recently published study that men who drank two or more servings of diet soda every day had a risk of developing heart failure as high as 23%. This study tracked more than 42,000 men for 12 years. In 3,500 cases a direct association was found between sweetened diet beverage consumption and the risk of heart failure.
Also, the study determined that this condition resulted in the death of over 500 men. This study did not differentiate between diet soda and regular soda, but included Diet Coke, Pepsi Max, and other beverages that contain artificial sweeteners. Although no differentiation was made, the study showed an equal amount of risk between both types of sodas.
Kidney Failure
Diet soda is observed to lead to kidney diseases. The intake of high sodium and artificially sweetened soda can lead to kidney dysfunction, especially in women.
Women who drink two or more diet sodas per day have a risk of decline in their kidney function by 30%. Studies are still ongoing about the association of diet soda and decline in kidney function. However, is it not better to opt for prevention at the earliest rather than cure?
Exponentially Increased Risk Of Metabolic Syndrome And Diabetes
Metabolic syndrome is a serious health risk. Metabolic syndrome is the term collectively used for the risk factors that significantly raise the risks of type 2 diabetes, heart stroke, high cholesterol and other heart diseases, and increase in belly fat.
A University of Minnesota study on 10,000 adults found that individuals who drank 1 bottle of soda a day had a risk of metabolic syndrome as high as 34%. The study also found that only those who drank regularly diet soda had a higher risk of metabolic syndrome, 36%.
The shocking finding was that people who drank diet soda on a daily basis had a 67% greater risk of type 2 diabetes compared to those who did not drink diet soda.
Exponentially Increased Waistline
School of Medicine at the University of Texas Health Science Center in San Antonio conducted two studies in 2011 and 2015. Both the studies observed that two servings of diet soda on a daily basis increased the waistline by a minimum of over 3 inches. When people who drank diet soda regularly were compared to people who didn’t, it was seen that people who drank diet soda had a 70% increase in their waist circumference that those who didn’t. Also, regular diet soda consumers had an increase in their waist circumference by 500%, when compared to non-consumers.
It was noticed that the artificial sweeteners in diet soda trigger insulin response in the body which leads to fat storage and weight gain. This also disrupted the body’s natural ability to regulate the calorie intake.
Exponentially Increased Risk Of Going Into Depression
Artificial sweetener, in particular aspartame which is commonly used in Diet Coke considered to be a potentially dangerous chemical that contributes to neurotoxicity. Aspartame comes only second to arsenic in terms of neurotoxicity.
The American Academy of Neurology determined that folks who consume artificially sweetened drinks have 30% higher risk of going into depression. By simply cutting down on sweetened diet drinks or replacing them with unsweetened coffee can reduce the chances of going into depression.
Artificial Sweeteners Damage The Gut Bacteria
Your gut is teeming with bacteria. This ecosystem of microbes keeps you healthy — but when it's thrown off balance, it can lead to a variety of diseases. Now, a new study finds that artificial sweeteners, such as the ones found in diet soda, can damage some of these bacteria.
According to the study published in the journal Molecules, the chemicals in artificial sweeteners could harm the human gut microbiome. In the new study, researchers at the Nanyang Technology University in Singapore and Ben-Gurion University and the Volcani Center, both in Israel, collaborated to test the effects of exposing gut bacteria to the six FDA-approved artificial sweeteners and 10 sports supplements that contained them. The teams found that "each sweetener create[s] a specific fingerprint using three stripes of bacteria," with each stripe indicating a different type of damage, including DNA damage, protein damage, and worsen the profile of the gut microbiome.
Conclusion
Diet soda is not at all healthy as it is believed to be.
If you are thirsty and fatigued, a glass of cold coffee would always make a better option than the artificially sweetened diet sodas.
And don't replace exercise with sports drinks!