Diet soda, as healthy as it may sound, is not so healthy after all! Ever since the introduction of this product, the number of people having type-2 diabetes has increased. C****r, arteriosclerosis, and osteoporosis are just some of the medical conditions being linked to consumption of products that use artificial sweeteners such as sucralose and aspartame. However, these assumptions are not yet proven and still need further studies.
As pointed out in this article from Examine.com, Diet Coke and other zero-calorie beverages do not inherently make people gain weight:
There are no studies that indicate any long-term health risks from drinking diet soda. Diet soda (defined as calorie-free carbonated beverages sweetened with aspartame, sucralose, acesulfame-potassium, or other non-caloric or minimally caloric sweeteners) is not harmful to health, well-being, or body composition.”
On the other hand, as evidenced by researches done on rats, these sweeteners can still cause various medical health conditions. Just a few weeks after giving rats artificial sweeteners, they have shown biochemical changes.
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According to the study, artificial sweeteners wears out our body, unlike regular sugar that overwhelms our blood stream with energy; it’s like deceiving our body. Since we don’t really get energy from artificial sweeteners, our body gets energy from other sources such as fats and proteins in our body. Researchers also saw protein breakdown on the body of the rats that were exposed to artificial sweeteners.
In addition to that, by drinking diet soda, you’re not taking in any calories — but you’re also not swallowing anything that does your body any good, either. If that’s the case, what then is the best no-calorie drink that people can take? Well of course, water. Although diet soda does not contain calories you can imagine, it confuses our body thinking that there’s an ample amount of sugar in it.
Read: Why Drinking Warm Water In The Morning Should Be Everyone’s Thing
Because of the fact that artificial sweeteners don’t bombard our body with sugar, they are being seen as healthy. Companies also use this to promote their products. In spite of that, the number of people who has type-2 diabetes has then increased since the release of diet sodas.
It is not all so bad according to the researchers. It’s how much we consume that matters. Keeping it moderate is the key. So, to conclude, as much as possible, avoid drinking diet soda if you can. It does not impose a not-so-healthy rule but just for us to be sure until further researches come out, we know that we’re safe.