Study: People lost more weight drinking diet soda...

gemmamummy

When I'm craving sugar I have a diet cola, it sorts the craving out. That's all I care about right now. There are chemicals all around us, in shower gel, shampoo, cleaning products etc etc. I won't be losing sleep over drinking diet coke.

VeganCappy

When I'm craving sugar I have a diet cola, it sorts the craving out. That's all I care about right now. There are chemicals all around us, in shower gel, shampoo, cleaning products etc etc. I won't be losing sleep over drinking diet coke.

You drink your shampoo?

gemmamummy

When I'm craving sugar I have a diet cola, it sorts the craving out. That's all I care about right now. There are chemicals all around us, in shower gel, shampoo, cleaning products etc etc. I won't be losing sleep over drinking diet coke.

You drink your shampoo?

Only if I've run out of diet coke!

Lourdesong

Someone's gotta pay for the study, and if it's not the government, then that it would be a party with an interest in a certain outcome shouldn't surprise anyone. The American government at least has already decided on the issue of aspartame being safe for human consumption, yet people are in a frenzy here like people were in the 80's - a time when there was still a lot of uncertainty about aspartame, unlike today. Why is this old relic of the 80's rearing it's head again in this day and age? Especially when it's off topic and a red herring?

I used to be a big diet coke drinker, but my habit ceased once I started drinking coffee regularly about 4 years ago, and I sweeten each cup of coffee I drink with saccharin (pink packet sweetener). My husband is still a big diet coke drinker. My problem with it is only the cost. It has skyrocketed to a point that it's unclear to me how the transaction is worthwhile trade anymore.

ebrggqe

Just so you know that study was funded by the American Beverage Association (or the soda companies).

http://www.cnn.com/2014/05/27/health/diet-soda-weight-loss/
http://www.npr.org/blogs/thesalt/2014/05/28/316321004/industry-study-finds-diet-drinks-help-dieters-shed-more-lbs-than-water

It MAY be biased.

I am not saying it is or it isn't as I myself do drink diet soda (even though I am trying to back off of aspartame and get on natural sugar free sweeteners).

I am just saying I would like to see a study done by a third party who has no interest one way or the other. Otherwise it is just like we are asking the Tobacco company to do a study on how bad Nicotine really is for us.

I also think it COULD be Baised.
Something "intresting" int the study:

"The other group was asked to drink at least three cups of diet soda a day. Their water consumption was not restricted."

---So this group could have diet sodas like cheat beverage, but they could drink water, as their advisors recomended?

"The water group was asked to drink at least three cups of water a day and not drink any diet sodas. They could, however, consume artificial sweeteners in foods, but they were asked not to add them in, for example, coffee."

---Mhhh... only three cups of water in day?
So what else could the drink? well they say... artificial sweeteners in foods like coffee...
what about artificial juices or normal sodas?

In the link of CNN thers a hint:

"So while this study did not track calorie consumption, the group blocked from drinking diet sodas most likely ate (*or drank*) more calories over the course of the 12-week diet."

So.. get the most info you can get, and make your own conclusions...
Drink what you want to drink, but always remember moderation...

maidentl

It has skyrocketed to a point that it's unclear to me how the transaction is worthwhile trade anymore.

It's cheaper if you buy it by the case.

SpencersHeart

Well, from what I understand ( and I am sure someone will correct me if I'm wrong :laugh:) of this study those that became the water drinkers did not only drink water but added in calorie drinks like fruit juice, and other sweet calories to compensate for the loss of the sweet taste of the diet sodas.

That in itself would cause a tilt in favor of the diet soda drinkers weight loss.

It's still calories in vs calories out. :flowerforyou:

It is still CICO, but I think the study may point to a more behavioral conclusion.

Agreed

Lourdesong

It has skyrocketed to a point that it's unclear to me how the transaction is worthwhile trade anymore.

It's cheaper if you buy it by the case.

Yup, I buy 32 case of soda at Costco, that's the cheapest place I've found it.

emdeesea

The study is NOT conclusive, but it is interesting. I think it merits further investigation.

LOL. The results of their study is conclusive...those who only drank water in their study lost less weight than those who only drank water!

The study didn't include scientific findings or evidence as to WHY this was the case ;-)

For those of you who refuse to accept the findings because the study is "biased" because it was funded by the National Beverage Association, remember this one little fact, the National Beverage Association represents those companies (Coca-Cola & Pepsi) who are the biggest bottled water distributors in the world ;-)

Right, but you can get water out of a tap for free. You can't get Diet Coke for free. So there's no incentive to promote water consumption there, is there?

I'd like to see how "weight loss" was determined. Whether it was a body fat analysis or just stepping on a scale. Because if these people drank that much Diet Coke for 12 weeks it's likely they were dehydrated and that their "weight loss" was actually water loss.

Sorry. The study is faulty by design and meant to produce a favorable result.

Why do you assume they were dehydrated? They weren't avoiding water.

No but there is suspiciously no mention at all of just exactly HOW much water was taken in by both groups. I assume they were dehydrated because the body would be required to process and flush any and all excess waste product. The sample study had one group drink 3 cups of diet soda a day, along with "as much water as they wanted." The control group drank 3 cups of water instead of the soda. But there is no mention of exactly how much water was taken in by either group. How much is "as much as they wanted?"

There are way too many missing pieces of information. They would need to control for a lot more variables over a lot more time for this study to be relevant.

This study shows one more time: In the history of studies that were released, not one of them has ever reached a conclusion contrary to the interests of whomever paid for the study.

EDIT: A-HA "***So while this study did not track calorie consumption***, the group blocked from drinking diet sodas most likely ate (*or drank*) more calories over the course of the 12-week diet."

therocpile

i don't care what the study says, diet soda is NOT good for you. But keep on drinking your aspartame cola, get that daily dose of poison!

maidentl

i don't care what the study says, diet soda is NOT good for you. But keep on drinking your aspartame cola, get that daily dose of poison!

:drinker:

DavPul

Well, from what I understand ( and I am sure someone will correct me if I'm wrong :laugh:) of this study those that became the water drinkers did not only drink water but added in calorie drinks like fruit juice, and other sweet calories to compensate for the loss of the sweet taste of the diet sodas.

That in itself would cause a tilt in favor of the diet soda drinkers weight loss.

It's still calories in vs calories out. :flowerforyou:

and isn't that the reason most of us drink soda, diet or regular version. i drink water too, but sometimes i want something with taste. or sometimes i'm eating something and need something strong to wash it down.

so for me, the point of the study isn't that drinking diet soda improves weight loss, it's that it doesn't hinder it, as countless sources on the internet would have us believe. it takes the shine off of the "you're priming your body to eat food and your food receptors gonna be all primed and you're gonna crave something sweet and and and diet drinks make you gain weight!" this study tells those people to go jump in the lake.

hopefully there will be room left in the lake for the "Diet soda chemicals gonna kill you!" crowd

wheird

i don't care what the study says, diet soda is NOT good for you. But keep on drinking your aspartame cola, get that daily dose of poison!

"I don't care what science says, the world is flat! Flat I tell you! Keep sailing your ships west, fall off the world for all I care!"

DavPul

i don't care what the study says, diet soda is NOT good for you. But keep on drinking your aspartame cola, get that daily dose of poison!

sweetcurlz67

I will stick with water....

+1

long term consistent drinking of diet drinks did yuckie things to me. when i gave them up, my health improved. i still have lasting negative effects in some areas, but some areas improved. I'll repeat... I will stick with water...

we all drink water...even diet soda drinkers...I get in at least 8 8oz cups a day...before I drink a diet coke...

So I have to ask tho what imporved? and what else changed? What are the "lasting negative effects"...

i lost 20 pounds off the bat. some of my headaches went away (after the initial withdrawal headaches). high blood pressure improved.

lasting negative effects... not proven, but... things that developed over the years and i 'think' it could have something to do with drinking lots of diet coke but i could be wrong: i am now lactose intolerant, never have been before. my stomach is also intolerant to other foods such as acid based foods(tomatoes, oranges, grapefruit, etc). like i said, could or could not be related, but i didn't have these issues before and developed them. but that's just what happened to me.

albertabeefy

Yeah, this really needed another thread :grumble: ... I'll quote the same thing I posted here: http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/1306534-new-study-diet-soda-better-than-water-for-weight-loss

I've read the study - because I enjoy that sort of thing. (Heck, It's a huge part of my job and I still enjoy it ... Yeah, I'm odd...)

FYI neither of the groups was tracking calories, nor was there any attempt made by the researchers at ensuring similar caloric deficits among both groups.

As such, for whatever reason, the group drinking diet soda had an overall greater caloric deficit than the other group. Much like the majority of dieters that restrict any other food group (without any real compelling reason to do so), those that were required to "give up" diet soda were less successful than those that weren't.

This doesn't mean diet soda makes you lose weight faster than water, it may mean that restricting food groups/items unnecessarily makes you less-successful at weight-loss.

BTW the study didn't actually conclude diet soda was superior for weight loss ... the study simply concluded water wasn't superior to diet soda.

sweetcurlz67

i don't care what the study says, diet soda is NOT good for you. But keep on drinking your aspartame cola, get that daily dose of poison!

"I don't care what science says, the world is flat! Flat I tell you! Keep sailing your ships west, fall off the world for all I care!"

Onderwoman

People majorly fail to read and interpret the study and put their own meanings into it. To make it simple, what it shows is only this: *IF* you are a soda drinker and you are trying to lose weight in a non calorie controlled diet, if you decide to switch to ONLY water, you will probably intake more calories than if you drank diet soda while trying to lose weight in that same calorie uncontrolled diet. THATS ALL!!

It does *NOT* indicate diet soda helps you lose weight, but it does tend to say that if you drank soda previously and restrict yourself from it while losing weight and not counting calories, you will probably eat more. I'd say that's true with ANY food you like and decide to "cold turkey" out of your diet and try to lose weight at the same time. SO its basically saying ABSOLUTELY NOTHING NEW!!

And then yes, you probably should at least have some suspicion in your mind that the results may have been slanted by the funding source. But since it says nothing new or interesting, I doubt they influenced it. Only the presentation was necessary, and just like this topic, you get people coming to the wrong conclusion and running around spreading the pro-artificial sweetener message, that this study doesn't even support! They sure gauged people well, no study manipulation necessary.

Yes, it doesn't matter that the study doesn't really show diet soda helps to lose weight, it made a headline, and people made bad assumptions, now everyone who "likes" diet soda will say it helps you lose weight if you start drinking it, even though that's false.

VeganCappy

People majorly fail to read and interpret the study and put their own meanings into it. To make it simple, what it shows is only this: *IF* you are a soda drinker and you are trying to lose weight in a non calorie controlled diet, if you decide to switch to ONLY water, you will probably intake more calories than if you drank diet soda while trying to lose weight in that same calorie uncontrolled diet. THATS ALL!!

It does *NOT* indicate diet soda helps you lose weight, but it does tend to say that if you drank soda previously and restrict yourself from it while losing weight and not counting calories, you will probably eat more. I'd say that's true with ANY food you like and decide to "cold turkey" out of your diet and try to lose weight at the same time. SO its basically saying ABSOLUTELY NOTHING NEW!!

And then yes, you probably should at least have some suspicion in your mind that the results may have been slanted by the funding source. But since it says nothing new or interesting, I doubt they influenced it. Only the presentation was necessary, and just like this topic, you get people coming to the wrong conclusion and running around spreading the pro-artificial sweetener message, that this study doesn't even support! They sure gauged people well, no study manipulation necessary.

Yes, it doesn't matter that the study doesn't really show diet soda helps to lose weight, it made a headline, and people made bad assumptions, now everyone who "likes" diet soda will say it helps you lose weight if you start drinking it, even though that's false.

Absolutely right. People love good news about their bad habits. Almost the entire diet industry is based on this psychology. You tell someone they need to give up their bad habits, and they ignore you to find someone who will tell them they can continue with their bad habits as long as they make one single change. Most have short term success and rave about the diet, then after they gain the weight back plus more, they move onto the next fad instead of listening to the people telling them to give up their bad habits. It is a vicious cycle.

DavPul

Yes, that's completely opposite of how people react when they find blog posts and YouTube videos that they believe support their flawed worldview