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Diet soda and weight loss?
_ankylosaurus_
Posts: 28 Member
in Debate Club
So I have a huge diet soda habit and a friend at work insists that despite being 0 calories, diet soda is negatively impacting my weight loss.
Thoughts?
Thoughts?
1
Replies
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Your friend is wrong.3
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3
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I have lost well over 20 lbs while hammering the diet coke. It can't be good, but I figured I am only ready to make so many sacrifices at a time.7
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Going by the hundreds of posts I've read here about this topic. Diet soda affects everyone differently, slower weight loss or stalling and increased cravings being a couple of the problems. Some people can drink copious amounts with no negative side effects.
I've never even tasted diet soda, so I have no experience one way or the other.3 -
Not true.
Enjoy your diet soda.2 -
I don't have a great gif or image to post however does your friend give you any reasoning behind his statement?
Also define negatively impact?
This can mean many things from causing you to binge to actually chemically preventing weight loss..
The answer is dependent on the question1 -
Her reasoning is that the body processes artificial sweetener the same way that it processes sugar-with a release of insulin. According to her, the body "believes" it's consuming sugar. The excess insulin, she says, leads to weight gain. Besides that rudimentary explanation, I haven't inquired more.2
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_ankylosaurus_ wrote: »Her reasoning is that the body processes artificial sweetener the same way that it processes sugar-with a release of insulin. According to her, the body "believes" it's consuming sugar. The excess insulin, she says, leads to weight gain. Besides that rudimentary explanation, I haven't inquired more.
She's wrong.7 -
Even if it were sugar, releasing insulin won't prevent weight loss if you are in a deficit. That's already a mistake by your friend. Also, while some artificial sweeteners may cause insulin release, aspartame does not (it does not spike blood glucose). Calories are ultimately what matter for weight loss.
SOME people (not me) report that diet soda can make them crave sweets and therefore make it harder for them to stay within their calories. If this is you, you'd not lose because of not staying within your calories, not the soda. (I'm assuming you are staying within your calories, so it's not you.)1 -
I've heard and read all the diet soda hype. I drink diet sodas all day long. I've lost 85 pounds in the last 6 months. If I had been drinking full calorie sodas all that time I would not have made it to where I am.3
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I drank diet soda during my weight loss phase and I continue to drink diet soda now 3 years into maintenance. My current BMI is 20.8, I wear size 4 jeans and I have a flat stomach (I've had 3 kids too). Your friend is full of woo
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The only possible association I have seen is that, in some studies, people drinking diet sodas have shown a tendency to eat more--either from a psychological feeling that "hey I'm drinking 0 calories so I can have another brownie" or some other behavioral association. However, there was nothing physical and nothing causal. If you are on a weight loss plan, you are monitoring those behaviors anyway so there is no reason for diet soda to have a negative effect.1
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I lost over 40 pounds while drinking diet soda regularly. And I'm maintaining that loss.
Your friend is just repeating diet myths.0 -
The question I always ask in these type of threads where someone says, "I read it may cause cravings" or "Someone said it negatively impacts weight loss" is... "Well is that happening to you?". It's your body. Do you feel those cravings? Are you losing weight at a rate that you are satisfied with? If so, then why would your friend even make the comment about diet coke. If not, were you talking about your struggles to lose, and this was one possible theory?
As others have said, there is nothing in diet soda that would directly cause weight gain, as it has zero calories. If you aren't losing, or are gaining weight, then it is because you are eating too many calories, and there are a number of potential causes of that. If you are one of those people who feels that diet soda triggers cravings in you which would cause you to overeat, then that still comes down to eating too many calories. It's still your choice to give into the craving or not, but it isn't the diet soda that would be directly impeding your progress.
TL/DR - your friend is full of kitten.3 -
Ditto on what others have said ... however, I have always thought diet soda tastes yucky so I never drank it. I used to drink regular soda but gave it up. Contributed to too much acid reflux for me ...0
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I wouldn't be so quick to say that your friend is wrong. There's a lot of complexity here that people above are ignoring:
- There are several high-quality, long-term studies that show an association between artificial sweeteners and weight gain and diabetes, even after controlling for the fact that heavier people use are more likely to use artificial sweeteners. (For example: "Diet soda intake and risk of incident metabolic syndrome and Type 2 diabetes in the Multi-Ethnic Study of Atherosclerosis," Diabetes Care (2009); "Dietary intake and the development of the metabolic syndrome: the Atherosclerosis Risk in Communities study," Circulation (2008).)
- Artificial sweeteners are not inert chemicals. They seems to affect the brain, including the appetite and reward pathways. (See "The effect of non-caloric sweeteners on cognition, choice and post-consumption satisfaction," Appetite (2014); "Sucralose, a synthetic organochorine sweetener: overview of biological issues," J Journal of Toxicology and Environmental Health (2013); "Altered processing of sweet taste in the brain of diet soda drinkers," Physiology & Behavior (2012); "Sucralose affects glycemic and hormonal responses to an oral glucose load," Diabetes Care (2013).
- Artificial sweeteners also seem to affect the beneficial bacteria in your gut. ("Splenda alters gut microflora and increases intestinal p-glycoprotein and cytochrom p-450 in male rats," Journal of Toxicology and Environmental Health (2008).) They don't really understand fully yet how these bacteria are important for healthy body mass, but it's becoming more and more clear every day that they are important.
There's also good indications that the effects mentioned above are highly individualized, based on peoples' genetics and other factors that aren't wholly understood. So someone saying, "I live on diet soda and have lost a ton of weight" isn't really proving anything one way or the other.
Given the evidence, I certainly avoid artificial sweeteners, and would advise my friends to do the same. Because what's the point? We know for sure that sparkling water is safe, and won't negatively affect your weight loss, so just be on the safe side and drink that. You trained yourself to drink diet soda (it really is nasty if you're not used to it), so you can train yourself to drink water instead.3 -
I wouldn't be so quick to say that your friend is wrong. There's a lot of complexity here that people above are ignoring:
- There are several high-quality, long-term studies that show an association between artificial sweeteners and weight gain and diabetes, even after controlling for the fact that heavier people use are more likely to use artificial sweeteners. (For example: "Diet soda intake and risk of incident metabolic syndrome and Type 2 diabetes in the Multi-Ethnic Study of Atherosclerosis," Diabetes Care (2009); "Dietary intake and the development of the metabolic syndrome: the Atherosclerosis Risk in Communities study," Circulation (2008).)
- Artificial sweeteners are not inert chemicals. They seems to affect the brain, including the appetite and reward pathways. (See "The effect of non-caloric sweeteners on cognition, choice and post-consumption satisfaction," Appetite (2014); "Sucralose, a synthetic organochorine sweetener: overview of biological issues," J Journal of Toxicology and Environmental Health (2013); "Altered processing of sweet taste in the brain of diet soda drinkers," Physiology & Behavior (2012); "Sucralose affects glycemic and hormonal responses to an oral glucose load," Diabetes Care (2013).
- Artificial sweeteners also seem to affect the beneficial bacteria in your gut. ("Splenda alters gut microflora and increases intestinal p-glycoprotein and cytochrom p-450 in male rats," Journal of Toxicology and Environmental Health (2008).) They don't really understand fully yet how these bacteria are important for healthy body mass, but it's becoming more and more clear every day that they are important.
There's also good indications that the effects mentioned above are highly individualized, based on peoples' genetics and other factors that aren't wholly understood. So someone saying, "I live on diet soda and have lost a ton of weight" isn't really proving anything one way or the other.
Given the evidence, I certainly avoid artificial sweeteners, and would advise my friends to do the same. Because what's the point? We know for sure that sparkling water is safe, and won't negatively affect your weight loss, so just be on the safe side and drink that. You trained yourself to drink diet soda (it really is nasty if you're not used to it), so you can train yourself to drink water instead.
To your first point in particular, which may also hold true for the others, all those studies can show is "People who ended up with diabetes (or whatever else) were consuming diet sodas frequently."
The way the study was carried out was a questionnaire asking for the amounts of it used, then checking a year later how many developed diabetes.
The problem with this is, diabetes is usually not something that sneaks up on you and bludgeons you over the head unexpectedly, many people know in advance if they're at risk, and may take measures to help, including switching sugary drinks for artificial sweetened. And if they were drinking lots of sweetened before (which is correlated with incidence), chances are they'll drink lots of artificially sweetened as well. And voilà, there you have it, people who drink lots of diet soda have higher incidence of diabetes.6 -
This comes up A LOT on MFP. You put your post under Health and Fitness Debate and I am unclear if you want a debate or if you just want a comment from us if we think or know if it could be hindering weight loss?
The answer is NO it will not. 0 calorie is 0 calorie -- absolutely NO (nada) nutritinal value in the food or drink that is labeled 0 calorie...[.edited to add, except sodium, potassium, or other - minerals or vitamin, etc.. when added]
Here are some random posts in MFP and even one in this debate forum...
http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10361754/artificial-sweeteners#latest
http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10365267/diet-soda
http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10349375/diet-soda
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You're better to buy sugar free beverages with no replacement of the sucralose or aspartame in them. I was told by a Dietician to stop with the Diet Pepsi and after almost a year, I agree that drinking the occasional Diet Pepsi made me more likely to seek food with sugar in it. I sometimes buy beverages with Stevia in it and that is considered by many as the best sweetner. Good luck. It's worth a try for a number of months to see if it helps.0
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I avoid artificial sweeteners such as aspartame which is the star of diet soda and chewing gums. But nope, no weight gain to be found there.0
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stevencloser wrote: »
To your first point in particular, which may also hold true for the others, all those studies can show is "People who ended up with diabetes (or whatever else) were consuming diet sodas frequently."
The way the study was carried out was a questionnaire asking for the amounts of it used, then checking a year later how many developed diabetes.
The problem with this is, diabetes is usually not something that sneaks up on you and bludgeons you over the head unexpectedly, many people know in advance if they're at risk, and may take measures to help, including switching sugary drinks for artificial sweetened. And if they were drinking lots of sweetened before (which is correlated with incidence), chances are they'll drink lots of artificially sweetened as well. And voilà, there you have it, people who drink lots of diet soda have higher incidence of diabetes.
If I'm understanding the study correctly, they controlled for that factor. But you're right in taking observational studies with a grain of salt.
But the other studies are all controlled experiments, where the same objections wouldn't apply.0 -
Diet soda is the ONLY way that I've found to control my sugar craving. One can or bottle of Diet Dr. Pepper and I'm fine the rest of the day.2
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You're better to buy sugar free beverages with no replacement of the sucralose or aspartame in them. I was told by a Dietician to stop with the Diet Pepsi and after almost a year, I agree that drinking the occasional Diet Pepsi made me more likely to seek food with sugar in it. I sometimes buy beverages with Stevia in it and that is considered by many as the best sweetner. Good luck. It's worth a try for a number of months to see if it helps.
I was told by my MD that drinking diet soda is fine. I've cut it out as an experiment before, but noticed no difference in how I felt/weighed/reacted towards food. It's never made me seek out food with sugar in it?3 -
some people might find that diet soda could trigger more sweet cravings but in and of itself, it is zero calorie and feel free to enjoy1
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Diet soda gives me that sweet taste I really enjoy. Unlike water. So I consider it very helpful.3
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stevencloser wrote: »
To your first point in particular, which may also hold true for the others, all those studies can show is "People who ended up with diabetes (or whatever else) were consuming diet sodas frequently."
The way the study was carried out was a questionnaire asking for the amounts of it used, then checking a year later how many developed diabetes.
The problem with this is, diabetes is usually not something that sneaks up on you and bludgeons you over the head unexpectedly, many people know in advance if they're at risk, and may take measures to help, including switching sugary drinks for artificial sweetened. And if they were drinking lots of sweetened before (which is correlated with incidence), chances are they'll drink lots of artificially sweetened as well. And voilà, there you have it, people who drink lots of diet soda have higher incidence of diabetes.
If I'm understanding the study correctly, they controlled for that factor. But you're right in taking observational studies with a grain of salt.
But the other studies are all controlled experiments, where the same objections wouldn't apply.
From the full text:
Model 1 adjusted for baseline age, sex, race/ethnicity, examination site, and energy intake. Model 2 added additional possible socioeconomic or lifestyle confounders: attained education (less than, equal to, or more than high school), time spent in inactive and active pursuits during leisure (MET-minutes per week), smoking status (current, former, or never smoker), pack-years, and regular dietary supplement use (weekly use or more versus nonweekly use). We also explored the impact of adjustment for various dietary factors (specifically, those associated with both diet soda consumption and type 2 diabetes and/or metabolic syndrome in ours or previous studies), such as food intakes (servings per day of whole grain bread/rice/cereal/pasta, nuts/seeds, fruit, vegetables, white potatoes, refined grain bread/rice/cereal/pasta, salty snacks, desserts, red meat, processed meat, high-fat dairy products, low-fat dairy products, sugar-sweetened soda, and coffee) or nutrient intakes (fiber, calcium, phosphorus, potassium, magnesium, and sodium). Finally, to assess the contribution of adiposity, we adjusted for 1) baseline waist circumference (continuous, in centimeters), baseline BMI (continuous), or both (single model); 2) change in waist circumference or body weight (most recent measurement − baseline measurement); and 3) stratification by BMI (<25 and ≥25 kg/m2).
They controlled for BMI. They did not control for subjects' knowledge of personal risk for developing T2D.0 -
_ankylosaurus_ wrote: »So I have a huge diet soda habit and a friend at work insists that despite being 0 calories, diet soda is negatively impacting my weight loss.
Thoughts?
I dunno. Lost 56 lbs, and I drink a metric ton of it each day.2
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