DIET SODA, HEALTHIER THAN REGULAR SODA?
Many people think drinking calories or sugar free drinks can be healthy or at least healthier than a soda. Nobody is going to claim that regularly drinking full-sugar pop is good for you with a 500ml bottle of cola containing around 200 calories. But are really low-calorie sweeteners as good and healthy as we think
Simple logic would suggest that swapping a full sugar drink for a diet version cuts calories from your diet. And
yet such drinks have a mixed reputation. There is public concern about some sweeteners and groups of scientists have argued that low-calorie sweeteners may lead to weight gain and increase the risk of developing type 2 diabetes.
So do they have a place in our shopping baskets?
Studies looking at large groups of people have shown obese people tend to drink more fizzy diet drinks than those of a healthy weight.
A study of US adults in the American Journal of Public Health showed 11% who were a healthy weight, 19% of those who were overweight and 22% who were obese drank diet beverages.
The researchers were left asking the question: "Are artificial sweeteners fueling, rather than fighting, the very epidemic they were designed to block?" But it is impossible to determine cause and effect in such studies. Are the drinks causing weight gain or are obese people turning to diet drinks in an effort to control their weight? The problem is that this people do not know where the sweeteners are drinking came from, and they do not even know what are they.
Scientists need do do more research on this issue, but what they all advice is that we should drink more water because it doesn't have anything unhealthy.
