Alarming
news for lovers of diet drinks. Two recent studies have
linked drinking diet carbonated drinks to poorer health compared with those who
don't drink the beverage.
A second study that found the sweetener aspartame raised blood sugar
levels in diabetes-prone mice. A second study that found the sweetener
aspartame raised blood sugar levels in diabetes-prone mice.
The human study was
based on data from 474 participants in a larger, ongoing study called the San
Antonio Longitudinal Study of Ageing. In that study, the participants were
followed for nearly 10 years. Diet soft drink drinkers, as a group,
experienced 70 percent greater increases in waist circumference compared with
those who don't drink diet drinks.
In the mouse study,
researchers fed aspartame, a calorie-free sweetener used in some diet
sodas, to diabetes-prone mice. After three months, the mice that ate
aspartame showed elevated blood sugar levels suggesting that there may be a
direct link between aspartame and increased blood-glucose levels. Researchers
speculated that artificial sweeteners may trigger appetite but don't provide
calories to satisfy the craving, or that the sweeteners could inhibit brain
cells that make you feel full, thus prompting more eating.
All in all, this spells further health risks to drinks that offer a
veneer of health. Check out the article on the Livestrong Foundation website
that also flags up a 2005 paper when researchers from the same
University of Texas Health Science Center in San Antonio found that a diet
soda habit can cause significant weight gain.
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