Drinking Soda and Weight Gain – Does It Matter If It’s Diet Soda?
Many times women come into my office and report drinking a soda quite often during the week. Sometimes it is one soda in the afternoon for a pick-me-up, sometimes it’s several. Either way, soda leads to weight gain…and no, it doesn’t matter if it’s diet.
In 2007, the University of Minnesota published a study in Circulation of which 9,514 participants were evaluated. The researchers found that people who drank just one diet soda everyday had a 34% increased risk of metabolic syndrome. This syndrome includes abdominal obesity, high triglycerides, low HDL (good cholesterol) high LDL (bad cholesterol), elevated blood pressure, and insulin resistance.
In the Framingham Heart Study by Boston University, 6,039 participants without metabolic syndrome at the start of the study had a 44% increased risk of developing new onset metabolic syndrome with one or more soda intake per day. Specifically, they had a 31% increase in obesity risk, 30% risk of increasing abdominal waist circumference, 25% increasing risk of developing elevated blood sugar or triglycerides, and a 32% risk of low HDL on blood-work.
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Dr. Jones, thank you for a fascinating post!
I am very interested in the "why" of the study. As far as the metabolic changes and the weight gain are concerned, do they actually come from something physiological that happens in the body because of the increased intake of soda?
Or is it that people who drink more soda were found to also eat less nutritiously, take in more calories and/or don't exercise as much?
Thanks so much in advance.
I concur. A basic law of scientific research is "correlation does not equal causation." People who drink diet soda may be more likely to eat junk food than people who drink only water/juice, making them more susceptible to obesity. For instance, I drink tons of diet coke and eat a healthy diet. I am thin and in great health. I think whoever is doing this research needs to ask "why are the results correlated with the variable?" before jumping to conclusions.
Actually, I believe it's the metabolic cascade. When something sweet touches your tongue, your body gears up for 'something sweet' to come down the pipes. Therefore all of the organs of digestion, including your pancreas are enlisted to deal with the incoming sugar. When you drink a diet drink, insulin is released yet no glucose(sugar) is there and you are left with elevated insulin levels. This leads to metabolic syndrome, insulin resistance and abdominal weight gain (including more fat around the organs).
So what about all the new sugar free drink mixes that we add to our water now. Is that just as bad for us? I only drink water and maybe 3 diet saods a week. What about chewing sugar free gum? Does that also interfer with the metabolic cascade?
This is truly good information for me. I'm finally understanding exactly what diet soda does in the body. Does the same metabolic cascade happen when we, for instance, sprinkle an artificial sweetener on cereal or on strawberries instead of sugar?