Fran Larson

Can Diet Soda Really Make My Waist Bigger? Really? Or Is This Just Another Myth?


Posted: Thursday, June 30, 2011

by Fran Larson
http://www.franniesquotes.com/

Some of us drink diet soda and believe that gives us the green light to eat fattening food. We feel really good about sipping on our ever so delicious diet soda, while noshing on fries and a burger. After all, we are helping to keep our weight off and perhaps our stomach from getting bigger by drinking diet soda instead of the real thing. After all, Diet Coke contains around 1.3 Calories, comparedto 142 calories for a regular can of coke.

The fact is, diet sodas could increase your waistline quite a bit. There are new studies from theTexas Health Science Center at San Antonio tracked 474 people, all 65 to 74 years old, for nearly a decade, measuring the subjects' height, weight, waist circumference, and diet soft drink intake every 3.6 years. The waists of those who drank diet soft drinks grew 70 percent more than those who avoided the artificially sweetened stuff; people who drank two or more servings a day had waist--circumference increases that were five times larger than non-diet-soda consumers. These findings produce the same result as the 2005 study that was done by the same researchers (http://shine.yahoo.com/channel/health/diet-soda-may-be-making-you-fat-2504019).

Here is another reason to swear off diet sodas. The UT Health Science Center at San Diego showed that the aspartame that is contained in diet soda could trigger the appetite, but did not satisfy it. Therefore your body could not tell when you are full, thus leading you to eat more.

Sharon Fowler, who was a faculty associate in the division of clinical epidemiology in the Health Science Center’s Department of medicine at the time of this study had this to say: “On average, for each diet soft drink our participants drank per day, they were 65 percent more likely to become overweight during the next seven to eight years, and 41 percent more likely to become obese.”

Can Diet Soda Make You Gain Weight Even Though The Calories Are Practically Zero?

The answer is yes. It seems that that another study was done by the American Diabetes Association at about the same time as the other studies, which proved our taste buds can't tell the difference between real and fake sugar, but our brains can.

After doing my research on this article, I have decided to stick to water or some form of juice. I dilute my glass of juice with water, so that I take in fewer calories.

So what do you think? Do you think these studies are correct or just another myth that is being perpetuated? Will this article make you give up your diet soda?

Let me know.
Francine Larson:

Co-Author of Character Keys to a Bright Future.

She is a freelance writer

Francine Larson has a new book that just came out, "The Lure of Annabelle Key Lighthouse," an exciting Christian Teen Novella. You may view it at: https://www.smashwords.com/profile/view/quotelady

See more articles by Francine Larson at:http://www.examiner.com/modern-love-in-tampa-bay/francine-larson

She also writes for The Highlands at Scotland Yards. She writes poetry and short stories. She is a contributor for Yahoo (http://contributor.yahoo.com/user/685738/francine_larson.html)

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Top-level comments on this article: (1 total)
» left by Deborah Jackson 309 days 10 hours ago.
5 fans.
I don't even like the taste of it, but the studies make sense to me. I always found it amusing to see someone in the grocery store buying Doritos,Twinkies and a 2 liter bottle of diet soda. I always wondered why they didn't just leave the Twinkie on the counter and get the "real thing" to drink.
» left by Anonymous 308 days 19 hours ago.

Yes, that is kind of silly,isn't it?  I am learning so much about these diet drinks and other products that contain an artificial sweetner.  I really do think these products caused me to have headaches and tummy troubles.  Up until now, I thought it was just a myth, but now I could see they are not too healthy.

 

Thanks so much for visiting me on questionables!

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