Are Diet Soda Bad For You

Lots of people drink diet soda to try to cut down on calories and sugar. However, is diet soda bad for you? based on some research, the answer is YES.

Diet soda can have several harmful effects on your health, including weight gain, tooth decay, and diabetes. So if you are looking for a healthy alternative to regular soda, try drinking water or seltzer instead.

Increase your weight: Your brain deals with artificial sweeteners in the same way it deals with regular sugar, and this leads to an increase in your desire to eat foods rich in calories and sweets, which causes your weight to gain in the end, and this has been proven by many scientific studies, some of which have found that Diet soda consumers have more weight than regular soda consumers.

You may like also: 14 FOODS TO GAIN WEIGHT QUICKLY AND SAFELY

You manipulate your insulin levels: Your brain thinks that everything sweet must carry calories, which causes your body to secrete insulin when you drink sweet diet soda. Researchers have linked frequent insulin spikes with type 2 diabetes.

You may like also: WHAT IS A HEALTHY, BALANCED DIET FOR DIABETES? EXAMPLE OF DIET

Harm your kidneys: Your chances of developing chronic kidney disease increase as a result of drinking diet soda, and this is because these drinks contain high levels of phosphorous, which increases acid levels within the kidneys, but there is no conclusive evidence to say that diet soda leads to kidney stones.

Harm your teeth: At first glance, you might think that diet soda is free of sugar, which means that it does not cause tooth decay, but the truth is that it has terrible effects on the teeth and may lead to tooth decay due to its high acidity level as a result of containing many acids; As citric acid and malic acid.

Increase the risk of developing heart, brain and liver disease: Some researchers point to the increasing scientific evidence that there is a relationship between drinking diet soda and heart disease; such as heart attack and high blood pressure; brain disease; Such as stroke, dementia, and liver disease as well.

Additional damage: Some are talking about the harmful effects of diet soda on the bacterial structure inside your gut, and there is some scientific evidence linking diet soda consumption with osteoporosis and possibly depression as well. As for the relationship between diet soda and cancer, researchers have not found Strong evidence to confirm this relationship so far.

You may like also: THE DANGERS OF DRINKING SODA: 10 SIDE EFFECTS YOU NEED TO KNOW.

Can Diet Soda Raise Blood Sugar

As for soda drinks, they contain 139 calories and 35 grams of sugar, which is a large amount, roughly nine teaspoons of sugar. As for "Diet" or "Zero" colas, they are high in calories and sugar.

Diet soft drinks have entered the market as a healthy alternative to sweetened soft drinks.

Studies have shown that consuming at least one to two cans per day lowers type 2 diabetes by 26%, heart attack by 20%, and click by 75% compared to These drinks. Is it a healthy choice? Is it suitable for people who have diabetes? Do diet soft drinks protect you from the health risks of sweetened soft drinks?

Although "diet" soft drinks were promoted since the early eighties as "healthy" alternatives to sweetened soft drinks, they have been fed, ever since, by dieters and people with diabetes. However, sugar and calories cause rumen and high levels of sugar.

You may like also: DIABETES DIET: THE BEST WAY TO EAT

Diet Soda And Pregnancy

Gestational diabetes is the most common metabolic complication of pregnancy and affects 16% of pregnancies globally. Drinking diet soda may cause expectant mothers to gain excess weight and gestational diabetes during pregnancy. Excessive weight gain during pregnancy increases the chances of babies being born by caesarean section.

A study published in the International Journal of Epidemiology attributes artificial sweeteners in diet sodas to gestational diabetes to some extent. Study author Dr Quillen Zhang stated that 'high-density artificial sweeteners might exacerbate glucose intolerance, compared to regular sugar, which increases intestinal glucose absorption, promoting overeating and weight gain by altering the sweet taste and caloric reward. '

This study conducted a follow-up of children up to the age of seven. It revealed that they were twice as likely to be obese than children whose mothers had gestational diabetes but did not drink diet soda during pregnancy.

Additionally, a lot of diet drinks contain high levels of caffeine. The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists recommends that pregnant women limit caffeine consumption to less than 200 milligrams per day.

Drinking soft drinks during pregnancy can lead to obesity in children.

Consumption of soft drinks during pregnancy increases the risk of premature birth and children born with high birth weight. Women who consumed diet soda were 60% more likely to have children with a high birth weight than women who did not drink soda during pregnancy.

A study in JAMA Pediatrics demonstrates that consumption of sweetened beverages during pregnancy affects infant weight gain and obesity in early childhood. The analysis included 2,413 expectant mothers and found that 30% had consumed artificially sweetened beverages during pregnancy, and 5% reported daily consumption of these beverages.

The researchers noted that pregnant women who drank sweetened beverages compared to water had a double risk of having overweight babies at one year. This finding could not be explained by the mother's BMI, diet, total energy intake, physical activity levels, or other obesity risk factors.

Dr Megan Azad, a lead author of the research paper, said, 'We provide human evidence that artificial sweeteners during pregnancy may increase the risk of obesity in early childhood.