The Diet Soda Sabatage

A University of Texas Health Science Center study found that frequent drinkers of diet sodas had waist circumference increases that were 500 percent greater than non-drinkers of diet soda.

If you’re drinking calorie-free diet soda to lose weight, you’re actually setting yourself up to pack on more pounds.

“I call it the diet soda trap,” says health coach and nutrition consultant Melaney Bernhardt, who owns Healthy Awakenings in Webster. “Our bodies get tricked into thinking we’re going to get sugar, but because there’s no actual sugar [in diet soda], the body keeps sending us looking for more.”

In fact, a University of Texas Health Science Center study found that frequent drinkers of diet sodas had waist circumference increases that were 500 percent greater than non-drinkers of diet soda. Why? Researchers at Purdue University reviewed a dozen studies that analyzed the relationship between consistent diet-soda consumption and health outcomes, and they found that artificial sweeteners (such as aspartame, saccharin and sucralose) are the culprit.

These additives mimic sugar and so induce an insulin response. But when there’s nothing to metabolize, a “hunger hormone” produced by the stomach and intestinal lining gets stimulated and causes us to consume even more calorie-rich, sweet-tasting foods than we might have otherwise.

And because the body has been repeatedly tricked, when diet soda drinkers do indulge in real sugar, the hormone that regulates blood sugar and blood pressure isn’t released properly.

“It’s a weird, vicious cycle,” says Bernhardt. Not only does diet soda hinder people’s attempts to get fit, it also forms a habit.

“Diet soda has addictive components, and that makes it a little harder to stop than sugar alone,” notes Seetha DeMarco, a fitness nutrition specialist from Pittsford. “It’s disheartening because it takes years and years and years for the [Food and Drug Administration] to take these types of things off the shelves.”

The FDA regulates artificial sweeteners as food additives and has established an acceptable daily intake for each type. While studies have shown the additives are generally safe in limited quantities, critics point to other research showing that synthetic sugar substitutes in diet soda can be linked to an increased risk for kidney decline, cell damage and reproductive issues, among other things.

Diet soda consumption among adults has grown almost 25 percent over the last decade, according to the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition.

Those who’d like to wean themselves off diet soda should come up with a “pleasurable” stand-in such as sparkling water with fresh fruit or fresh herbs—or both, recommends DeMarco, whose favorite combination is watermelon and basil.

If you don’t want to quit cold turkey, start by cutting your intake in half, but be sure to replace your normal fluid intake with water to avoid dizziness and other side effects from caffeine withdrawal, suggests Hannah Andrew Smith, a registered dietician from Newark. If that goes well for a week, cut consumption by another half the next week, and so on. To limit consumption, she also advises drinking diet soda only with meals.

Here’s a happier way to think about it: If diet soda offers no benefits, that means many of us without dietary restrictions can indulge guilt-free in a reasonable amount of our favorite real-sugar treats.

Hello, chocolate chip cookie.

Robin L. Flanigan