The term “diet soda” might sound healthy, but have you tried to find out if it actually helps you at all? Have you ever wondered if it might be ruining your health more than benefiting it in any way? Well, your answer is here. Diet sodas are undoubtedly devoid of calories, but they contain a substantial amount of artificial sweeteners and are carbonated, which make them harmful for our health in numerous ways.
If you are still thinking of beating the summer heat and quench your thirst with diet soda, these five reasons should make you rethink immediately.
1. Risk Of Heart Health
A study conducted at the Karolinska Institute in Sweden has found that men who drank two or more servings of diet soda every day had a risk of developing heart failure as high as 23%. In this study, more than 42,000 men were tracked for a term of 12 years and over 3,500 cases were found where there was a positive association between sweetened beverage consumption and the risk of heart failure. Also, it was observed that this condition was the result of the death of over 500 men as well. 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.
2. Risk Of Kidney Diseases
It has been observed that diet soda can lead to kidney diseases too. 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?
3. Risk Of Diabetes And Metabolic Syndrome
If you are not sure of what metabolic syndrome means, you must know that it 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 study was conducted at the University of Minnesota in 2008 over 10,000 adults. In this study, it was found that adults who drank 1 bottle of soda a day had a risk of metabolic syndrome as high as 34%. It was also found that only those who drank diet soda regularly had a higher risk of metabolic syndrome, and it was 36%. However, the shocking result 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.
4. Significant Increase In Waistline
There were two studies conducted by the School of Medicine at the University of Texas Health Science Center in San Antonio, in 2011 and 2015 respectively. 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 used to trigger the insulin in the body which led to fat storage and weight gain. This also disrupted the body’s natural ability to regulate the calorie intake.
5. Risk Of Going Into Depression
A certain sweetener called aspartame is used in Diet Coke and is considered to be a potentially dangerous chemical that contributes to neurotoxicity, and in this case, comes only second to arsenic. The American Academy of Neurology have found that people who consume artificially sweetened drinks have as high as 30% risk of going into depression.
It has been observed that cutting down on sweetened diet drinks or replacing them with unsweetened coffee can reduce the chances of a person going into depression.
We have seen that diet soda is not at all healthy as it is believed to be. We have also seen where to cut down now and what to consume instead. If you are thirsty and fatigued, a glass of cold coffee would always make a better option than the artificially sweetened diet sodas.
