Diet Disaster

Consumption of diet drinks declined by about seven percent in 2013, dropping them to the lowest point since 1995.  Despite being promoted for weight loss, you may be surprised that beverages with artificial sweeteners have never been proven to actually promote weight loss.  I’ve reported several times of the hazards of diet drinks and artificial sweeteners.  However, just in case you haven’t gotten this message clearly, you may be interested in the most recent study where researchers determined a link between the low-calorie sodas and heart-related disease and even death.

In the past, I’ve reported on the connection between artificial sweeteners and an increased risk of multiple sclerosis, non-Hodgkin’s Lymphoma and leukemia.  In this most recent 10-year study of 60,000 women, they found that those who consumed just two or more diet drinks a day were 30% more likely to have a heart attack or stroke and were 50% more likely to die from heart related disease!  Even when they adjusted out other factors such as BMI, smoking and other lifestyle factors, the stats didn’t change compared to the women who didn’t consume the drinks.  This study is a much larger version of similar smaller studies of the past.  In fact one animal study from Purdue University showed that artificial sweeteners caused the animals to develop a disrupted response to real sugar and to become hyperglycemic in the same way as diabetics.  This same study showed that the damaging cardiovascular effect is a result of a decrease of a heart-protective protein from the diet drinks. 

I see this as another case of what is common practice and common belief is not common reality.  Even though we’ve been trained that diet drinks are lower in calories and should decrease obesity, when was the last time you’ve known someone to lose weight and get in shape from drinking diet drinks?  The fact is, many studies show that artificial sweeteners actually promote weight gain!  In the late 80’s, the journal Physiology and Behavior found that low-calorie sweeteners produce an increase in appetite.  The belief on this is that the sweeteners trigger dopamine in the reward center of your brain.  This activates your brain’s hunger center, but the brain is never satisfied because the calories never come.  This leaves our hunger centers activated and we tend to overeat or eat high calorie snacks that undermine our efforts.

With the exception of Stevia, all of these artificial sweeteners should be thought of as toxins that create stress on the body.  My best advice is to avoid them at all cost.  Even this strategy is becoming more difficult as the manufactures, in order to prevent people avoiding their products, are renaming the sweeteners to things such as Sucralose and something called “Amino-sweet.”  If it’s considered diet or reduced calorie and you’re uncertain the ingredients, just stay away from the product.