Diet soda and belly fat

sherreystl1
sherreystl1 Posts: 12 Member
in Food and Nutrition
Has anyone heard of diet soda contributing to belly fat? I have been drinking diet soda for about 12 years now and I am just hearing how bad it is for you. When I looked it up it says it tricks your body and it stores it as fat. Also is there really a link to cancer? I am thinking of switching to iced tea. Last time I tried it didn't seem like it did as much for me caffeine wise. That is why I drink diet soda in the first place. I don't really like the taste. Should I go cold turkey or phase it out. I still have quite a few 2 liters at home because I just went to the store.

Replies

  • Carol_L
    Carol_L Posts: 296 Member
    What you read is a lot of internet FUD or as some people call it BroScience.

    The only thing that your body is physiologically capable of storing as fat is GLUCOSE. Diet soda does not contain glucose, nor does it contain anything that could remotely transform into glucose. So the answer to the first question is a very solid no.

    Secondly - diet soda/cancer link. One particularly famous, or should I say infamous, study linked consumption of diet soda to bladder cancer tumors in rats. Several problems with this study. Firstly, humans are not rats and the metabolic processes are not equivalent. Even putting that aside, the second problem here is that the amounts fed to the rats were the equivalent of consuming 10 CASES of diet soda per DAY for 80 years. Lastly, the methodology employed for this test, Ames Testing, has been denounced by its own creator, Dr. Bruce Ames, as not being representative of real life situations.

    If you don't like the taste, then don't drink it, but don't use specious information to justify the decision.
  • runfreddyrun
    runfreddyrun Posts: 137 Member
    if you can quit cold turkey, do it but if not, then just phase out. personally, i've been trying to limit artificial sweeteners of any kind. i think they are toxic. i have also read about diet coke tricking your body into holding fat - not sure if that is true or not.

    if you enjoy drinking diet coke, maybe just try to limit it - definitely 1 a day and maybe less if you're able to. it's better to drink water. ice tea would probably be okay too depending on the amount of sugar or artificial sweeteners in it.

    if you're addicted to caffeine, it's probably better to try and wean off that as well. i don't see anything wrong with an occasional caffeine pick me up but when you have to rely on it, it's probably not good.

    i've read that consistent use of caffeine can contribute to insulin resistance, which i think causes fat to be stored. of course, this depends on how much caffeine you're ingesting on a daily basis.

    i've started drinking zevia, which is 0 calorie but made with stevia. i only really like two of the flavors but i'll have 2-3 cans a week.
  • Pjhench
    Pjhench Posts: 6 Member
    Not sure about the belly fat thing but the artificial sweetener is absolutely bad for your bones. I quit a couple of times and as soon as I had one or two I felt it immediately. I have not had diet soda now for almost three years and rarely if ever have a regular soda. Why bother? Water is the perfect beverage. If you want something a little sweeter try natural lemonade watered down. AFter you go without soda for a while you will notice how horribly sweet it is. Besides your doing wonderful things like getting healthy now.... why drink chemicals......just sayin........
    Has anyone tried the new sweetener made from Monk Fruit?
    Stevia isnt bad either....
  • Pedal_Pusher
    Pedal_Pusher Posts: 1,166 Member
    I'd just drink water only. No, seriously.
  • electricmeow
    electricmeow Posts: 68 Member
    Something people don't realize is that Aspartame comes from GMO corn, which in itself has been linked to cancer. So taking GMO corn and making an overprocessed sweetener that somehow "tricks" our body? I don't see how that is good at all! Since I've stopped drinking diet soda, I get itchy whenever I go back! Truly.

    Then there's splenda..."its from sugar" they say. Well, not sugar cane, its from corn sugar. GMO corn sugar. And they add chlorine too it. Again, awesome idea..... Though I would rather have splenda than aspartame. Honestly, I just have the regular sugar drinks and limit them to once or twice a week.

    For caffeine, I take halved caffeine pills (Vivarin). Each one is 200mg. You can take 1/4 of a pill to equal a can of soda. I was scared that these pills would be too intense, but they're really not. Vivarin and its generics have a slow release buffer. The small pills like No-Doz and Jet Awake are nothing but jitters and nervousness. That is the difference.
  • cacrat
    cacrat Posts: 336 Member
    Yup, studies have linked artificial sweeteners to weight gain.

    http://www.purdue.edu/uns/html4ever/2004/040629.Swithers.research.html

    That was followed by a Time Magazine follow up a couple years later:

    http://www.time.com/time/health/article/0,8599,1711763,00.html

    For a Yale piece:

    http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2892765/

    "Unsweetening the world’s diet may be the key to reversing the obesity epidemic."
  • mksgirl83
    mksgirl83 Posts: 41
    Everything I have read states soda non diet or diet causes weight gain.... I have read that diet can make you gain up to 10lbs a year from just one soda a day!!!

    The cancer thing.... everything causes cancer, its always some fad.... I am not saying artificial sweeteners are good for you, bc they are certainly not, but if they could actually link it to cancer is another story!!!

    I have personally given up soda, I am on day 6, honestly I feel better without it!! I have started drinking more water, ice tea and green tea, for a little sweetness I am using stevia!!! If I can do it anyone can... I was drinking probably 6+ a day (or I would go to circle k and get a 44oz diet twice a day) yeah probably not good for ya!!!

    good luck in what ever you do :)
  • wellbert
    wellbert Posts: 3,924 Member
    if you drink 12oz of diet soda, you'll immediately weight about 12oz more!!!1!

    I drink about a gallon of diet soda a day. if 12oz/day makes you gain 10lb a year, then I should be gaining about 100lbs a year, right?

Categories