Diet Drinks: Helpful or Harmful to Kick the Sugar Habit?

If you saw the recent 60 Minutes segment by Dr. Sanjay Gupta on the dangers of sugar, you might be scared off the sweet stuff for good. It causes heart disease, diabetes, obesity, and cancer and it makes super bad, super dense, super dangerous cholesterol particles. The data is pretty strong on this. Scientists even locked kids in a hospital, fed them sugar and measured their blood every 30 minutes. It didn't take long for things to turn bad inside.

But if you are thinking that diet soft drinks or artificial or even natural sweeteners are the answer for getting off sugar, think again. Diet drink consumption has increased 400 percent since 1960. It may or may not cause cancer, but the evidence is mounting that it leads to weight gain rather than weight loss. Those who consume diet drinks regularly have a 200 percent increased risk of weight gain, a 36 percent increased risk of pre-diabetes or metabolic syndrome, and a 67 percent increased risk of diabetes. A study of 400 people found that those who drank two diet sodas a day or more increased their waist size by five times.

Seems you can't outsmart Mother Nature. Tricking your brain into thinking you are getting something sweet plays dirty tricks on your metabolism. Artificial sweeteners disrupt the normal hormonal and neurological signals that control hunger and satiety (feeling full). A study of rats that were fed artificially sweetened food found that their metabolism slowed down and they were triggered to consume more calories and gain more weight than rats fed sugar-sweetened food.

In another alarming study, rats offered the choice of cocaine or artificial sweeteners always picked the artificial sweetener, even if the rats were previously programmed to be cocaine addicts. The author of the study said that, "[t]he absolute preference for taste sweetness may lead to a re-ordering in the hierarchy of potentially addictive stimuli, with sweetened diets ... taking precedence over cocaine and possibly other drugs of abuse."

The use of artificial sweeteners, as well as "food porn," the sexy experience of sweet, fat, and salt in your mouth, alters your food preferences. Your palate shifts from being able to enjoy fruits and vegetables and whole foods to liking only the sexy stuff.

My advice is to give up stevia, aspartame, sucralose, sugar alcohols like xylitol and malitol, and all of the other heavily-used and marketed sweeteners unless you want to slow down your metabolism, gain weight, and become an addict. Some may be worse than others, like aspartame, which is what we call an excitotoxin, that can cause neurologic symptoms like brain fog, migraines or worse. And some may just give you bad gas because they ferment in your gut, like the sugar alcohols (anything that ends in "ol" like xylitol). Others like stevia, which comes from a South American plant, may be slightly better and could be enjoyed from time to time, but they all keep us yearning for more and more -- so our brains get confused, we eat more food and we get fatter. There are ways to cut cravings by naturally balancing your blood sugar.

So if you want something sweet, enjoy the real thing from time to time. But stay away from fake sugars or fake food or factory made science projects of any kind.

To learn more please see The Blood Sugar Solution. Get one book or get two and give one to someone you love -- you might be saving their life. When you purchase the book from this link you will automatically receive access to the following special bonuses:

• Special Report -- Diabetes and Alzheimer's: The Truth About "Type 3 Diabetes" and How You Can Avoid It.
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• Dr. Hyman's UltraWellness Nutrition Coaching -- FREE for 30 days!
• First 30 minutes of The Blood Sugar Solution Workshop DVD

Now I'd like to hear from you...

Do you drink diet soda?

How have they affected your health and your weight?

Do you use artificial sweeteners and will you continue to do so?

Please share your thoughts by leaving a comment below.

To your good health,

Mark Hyman, MD

Mark Hyman, M.D. is a practicing physician, founder of The UltraWellness Center, a four-time New York Times bestselling author, and an international leader in the field of Functional Medicine. You can follow him on Twitter, connect with him on LinkedIn, watch his videos on YouTube, become a fan on Facebook, and subscribe to his newsletter.

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Comments

[ScreenName05]

11:08 PM on 05/22/2012

I really wish article like this one would stop using statistics and start looking at lifestyles and how each lifestyle consumes different products. If you are an obese person, you get no exercise, etc. and you start drinking diet cokes instead of cokes, it will likely make no difference - because your body craves the sugar and you will either eat or drink it in some form. On the other hand if you exercise a couple of hours every day, have never been overweight, etc. then the difference between diet coke and regular coke is a big deal - and if you already have that mind set then you are not going to instantly eat a dozen donuts to make up the difference. One doughnut is okay,lets not be crazy about this.

Unfortunately, people writing articles feel they must make a point. This one makes a rather narrow point aimed at a segment of the population. But lets face it, if you are exercising 2 hours a day, then you are going to consume a lot of liquids. And diet coke is first water, and then some food coloring and sodium - you are going to drink a lot of liquids some how, and unless someone can tell me why not, and I mean a real reason why not. then it is as good as any non-sugar based liquid.

[Quotidien]

07:21 PM on 04/19/2012

I have a coke addiction...diet coke. I prefer the taste to regular coke.

[hebaber]

06:48 PM on 04/17/2012

This is plain food snobbery. Has there been a controlled study indicating that even keeping everything else constant diet soda drinkers get fatter and have more problems than those who don't drink diet soda? Or are you comparing fastidious Yuppies, who of course would never dream of drinking (or at least admitting to drinking) soda--diet or otherwise--with us lowly proletarian slobs, who are also eating other bad stuff.

I consume quarts of diet soda, but I don't eat fast food or sweets (other than fresh fruit) and I'm not fat. The campaign against diet soda is motivated by aesthetic considerations and plain snobbery.

[JSDKoeln]

07:31 AM on 04/18/2012

so, think you missed the point where he's talking about "normal" sized people drinking diet drinks. He's talking more about obese people.

And if you're consuming quarts of diet soda... your liver must hate you. That stuff is nothing but checmicals.

[ScreenName05]

11:11 PM on 05/22/2012

It is 99.9% water. And according to what I have read is just as good for hydration as anything else.

[kingston100]

11:56 AM on 04/19/2012

I drank at least a can of diet pop a day for several years. I finally gave it up on January. I had a migrane for two days and felt exhausted for about a week. I finally adjusted and now drink juices and water mainly. I did not change the rest of my diet at all. I quickly lost 10 pounds

[sensimilla]

03:37 PM on 04/17/2012

Stevia is the best non-sugar sweetener, and one of the only ones that does not trick your body.

[BluebirdofUnhappiness]

10:58 PM on 04/17/2012

Why wouldn't it "trick your body"? It makes you think you're ingesting carbohydrates like all the other ones. Plus it tastes awful.

[Sieggy]

01:02 PM on 04/17/2012

I went from 240 to a current 185 (and am still dropping, want to get to 175) simply by 1) cutting the crap out of my diet, and 2) walking daily. I still eat sugar, but only in small amounts, avoid HFCS whenever possible, NEVER eating anything containing artificial sweeteners, and avoiding highly processed foods. I cook from scratch as much as possible, and still enjoy good food. But it's REAL food, not the 'artificial food substitutes' that people buy.

Seriously, if you want to lose weight, don't bother with calorie counting and fad diets - just eat better food that's actually nutritious rather than just 'empty calories'. And get out and move. Even a mile or two a few times a week will do wonders for you. Not overnight, but over time, your weight will come down and you'll feel a lot better.

[babybelle]

09:13 AM on 04/16/2012

I went from 125 pounds to 102 pounds .
I have maintained my 102 weight for some time .
I didn't give up my Diet Coke.
I have no plans to!

[quadia]

10:40 AM on 04/16/2012

Depending on your frame, whether or not 125 pounds is overweight. However, and more to the point, whatever is your comfortable and desired weight is right for you. If Diet Coke is your preference, that, also, is right for you. I changed from Pepsi to unsweetened iced tea, and now I don't like carbonated drinks of any kind, but that is my preference, which worked for me, but I sure wouldn't try to change anyone else's.

[babybelle]

11:02 AM on 04/16/2012

My point wasn't whether 125 pounds was the right weight for everyone that is 5'2".
102 is right for me.

[sensimilla]

03:44 PM on 04/16/2012

that diet coke will give you cancer.

TRUST ME...

[babybelle]

04:58 PM on 04/16/2012

At age 65 I am cancer free and been drinkng Diet Coke for years.
No plans to stop.

[ScreenName05]

11:14 PM on 05/22/2012

Been drinking it for 40 years, and I am the healthiest 60 something I know.

[Canuck1950]

08:52 AM on 04/16/2012

The evidence that links diet soda consumption to obesity and metabolic syndrome is weak. You cannot draw conclusions from associations, you must do the randomized controlled trials first. It is just as likely that the fat people who drink diet sodas do so because they are fat, not the other way around. And don't forget that there is a rich and powerful sugar lobby out there who will do everything it can to convince you to stick with the "real" stuff. If your only choice is between a diet soda and a sugary soda, choose the diet product every time.

[BluebirdofUnhappiness]

11:01 PM on 04/17/2012

And a rich bookseller who also wants you to buy his books.

[Elizabeth Tracey]

07:51 AM on 04/16/2012

I rarely drink sparkling soda, and when I do it tends to be the real stuff. If I'm going to have something bad, then I prefer going the whole hog. When I say rare, I mean less than ten sparkling sodas a year. I much prefer to drink soda water with a cordial if I'm after something carbonated. Otherwise I'm a water and herbal tea kind of girl.

[oldwolf49]

02:57 AM on 04/16/2012

If I can't get a real cane sugar soda I opt for diet, I just can't drink that corn syrup anymore and it IS NOT the same as sugar, if it were it would be sugar.

[lick my feet]

02:44 AM on 04/16/2012

it wont help to avoid or treat diabetes. fake sugar triggers the same reaction from the pancreas that real sugar does.

[eLucida]

10:06 PM on 04/26/2012

Reference?

[Diedre Seeley]

10:08 PM on 04/15/2012

I agree with everything except lumping stevia in with these other artificial sweeteners. Stevia is derived from the stevia plant, often called "sweet leaf.". While sweeter than sugar, it has a negligible effect on blood glucose. Of course what Big Food may be passing off as stevia may be harmful, but if you get it from a reputable source, it's fine.

[Tango16]

06:36 PM on 04/15/2012

I just gave up diet pop and anything with artificial sweeteners a week ago after reading about cadavers having aspartame in their brain. I don't now if it's true. I've had chronic hives for a few years and then they got worse if I had more than one glass of diet pop per day. As soon as I have more than a glass my face itches, my ears itch, my arms itch and have red streaks up them, etc. One time when I was hooked on king size Diet Cokes from McDonalds I set off extremely bad heartburn followed by hives every day for almost two years. The hives were swollen over an inch high on large parts of my body. The past several months I've had shooting pains in my head after drinking diet pop. So, I finally asked myself WHY I continued to poison myself (and imagined all the aspartame collecting in my brain). I sleep better and don't have a sickly feeling and don't feel like I'm in a brain fog.

[jandos]

04:35 AM on 04/16/2012

Wow - that's quite a reaction to have. Sounds awful!

[Heywood Merton]

04:30 PM on 04/16/2012

"I just gave up diet pop and anything with artificial sweeteners a week ago after reading about cadavers having aspartame in their brain. I don't now if it's true."

Given that aspartame is completely broken down in the gut, I'd say not.

[Catothemuchyounger]

05:05 PM on 04/15/2012

I drink flavored seltzer water. Carbonated so you get the soda fizz, but zero calories, and no sweeteners of any kind, except for some natural flavors.

[dutch letter]

10:37 AM on 04/16/2012

I do, too. I just squeeze some real lemon or lime juice into simple seltzer water and it's an incredibly refreshing drink free of any sugars or artificial sweeteners. I can't even drink soda, real or fake, now - the sweetness and chemical flavor is disgusting to me. And I never even had any weight problems or noticeable physical symptoms from the stuff.

[mbpeters]

02:54 PM on 04/15/2012

Diet drinks are a cocktail of chemicals. If you are going to drink soft drinks drink the original with sugar in moderation.

[george martini]

03:45 PM on 04/15/2012

Diet drinks were the main cause of diabetic hoof syndrome found in a test group of llamas at the University of Peekskill in 2009.

[rav1267]

05:52 PM on 04/15/2012

Actually the best drink is water. that is my opinion

[William Anderson LMHC]

11:08 AM on 04/15/2012

Diet drinks are one of the most important advances in the food supply that have helped me and my patients and clients to successfully lose weight and keep it off. I again disagree enthusiastically with your position, and I have years of real case histories that completely refute your theories and claims.

I lost 140 pounds 25 years ago after 25 years of obesity and weight loss failure, much of it because of the well-intentioned but bad advice of misinformed doctors and dieticians. I've maintained my ideal body weight since 1985, over 25 years. One of the things that has made this possible and easy is diet soda, my favorites being Fresca and Diet Coke.

I have been helping others to successfully lose weight permanently for years with time-tested, clinically proven behavior therapy, and we are very happy about the availability of artificially sweetened foods that help us to maximize the enjoyment of eating while keeping the calories low so we can both enjoy our table fare and our success with weight control.

You need to stop discouraging people from using something that we know works, using questionable "proof" with poorly constructed conclusion jumping and citations of scientific research to people who are not trained in scientific methodology.

William Anderson, LMHC
Author of 'The Anderson Method - Secrets of Permanent Weight loss'
www.TheAndersonMethod.com

[Paulie12]

10:57 PM on 04/15/2012

What the hell is a LMHC degree ?
Are you concerned ONLY with weight loss, at the expense of your health otherwise ?
To my mind you're the one citing scientific research when you're obviously not qualified.

[William Anderson LMHC]

08:10 AM on 04/16/2012

Licensed Mental Health Counselor. It is a license issued by the Department of Health, Medical Quality Assurance, State of Florida. I am very qualified. You could have looked it up, to make it obvious.

Obesity is only one of the diagnoses I treat. It is my specialty because of the rare expertise I have. It is an important component of real health, approached holistically.