At the risk of receiving loads of hate mail, I have to talk about diet sodas. I know so many folks who feel very virtuous about moving from sugary drinks to diet drinks. After all, it’s well known that sugar-sweetened ones cause the metabolic health problems of diabetes, heart disease, weight gain, and of course, dental problems. |
Well, there’s not a whole lot of data on this, because the food industry doesn’t do studies on them. But what you can know is that there is grave suspicion diet drinks actually cause metabolic disease. The incidence of obesity in the USA still continues to climb, in spite of the fact that more than forty percent of all sodas consumed are now unsweetened.
1 litre sugared sodas
1 litre diet soda
1 litre milk
1 litre water
After six months, the sugar group gained 22 lbs. The diet group gained 3.5 lbs. The milk group stayed the same. The water group lost 4.5 lbs.
The puzzle here is that the unsweetened group actually gained weight. The milk group were getting as many calories as the sugar guys. Yet they didn’t experience weight gain.
So then another study that looked at the diet soda group gave them water instead. Well, they lost weight like the original water group. But how could the diet soda folks have put on weight when there wasn’t any sugar?
It seems that just the sweet taste actually stimulates the pancreas to produce insulin. Then the insulin is floating around, looking to deal with the expected sugar. It doesn’t come, so you have to eat more food in order to use up the insulin. The extra food must be turned into and stored as glycogen in the liver. When the liver runs out of storage space insulin orders extra fat to be crammed in anyway. As you drink more diet drinks this process is repeated. More and more energy is required to cram more surplus into the liver. This is what fatty liver is all about. It’s a very serious problem. It’s the start of insulin resistance. That is the precursor to Type 2 diabetes.
Let’s just review what sugar actually is - in simple terms of course! Each little particle is approximately 50% glucose and 50% fructose. On the face of it, fructose ( the same sweetener found in fruit) seems better for you. But in actual fact, only the liver can metabolise fructose. On the other hand, glucose can be used by every cell in the body for energy.
Diet sodas do not cause you to lose weight. That’s because it’s not reduced calories that govern your weight. It’s insulin.
Drinking diet sodas does reduce sugar consumption. That’s good. But if it also causes higher insulin levels what is the advantage of consuming it? It’s a very highly processed chemical “food”.
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