Does diet soda and artificial sweeteners in general cause weight gain?!
Answers: I've heard conflicting reports. Theories?
Zero calories should mean zero weight gain -- but in nutrition, like life, things are seldom black and white.
Over the past few years, some studies have speculated that artificial sweeteners might actually stimulate hunger. Conversely, other studies suggested that sucrose -- a.k.a. table sugar -- might promote weight loss.
So what does a dieter drink?
In a study done by Danish researchers, 41 overweight people supplemented their diets with either sucrose or artificially sweetened drinks. Ten weeks later, the sucrose set gained an average of three pounds, while the fake-sweetener group lost nearly two pounds.
Why?
The sugar-drinkers added more than 400 calories each day to their normal intake - all of that went past their appetite sensors and on to their waistlines. Calories you drink do not help satisfy your appetite. Because you never compensate for the extra calories by eating less, you end up gaining weight.
You can save between 140 and 150 calories for every 12-ounce can of regular soda you replace with a diet soda.
Just do not go overboard: Stick to only three or four 12-ounce cans a day to avoid the risk of exceeding maximum intake levels of artificial sweeteners.
try to avoid artificial sweeteners. Although it’s tempting to use non-caloric artificial sweeteners to replace calorie-containing sugar beware! This is not an example of “something for nothing” – everything has its price, including artificial sweeteners. These sweeteners found in diet drinks and diet foods trick the body by providing a very sweet taste without adding calories.
Although these sweeteners do not directly cause weight gain, they can secondarily for two reasons. First, these sweeteners are so sweet that they cause a certain craving for sweet foods. After training our taste buds to a high level of sweetness, other foods pale by comparison and we only tend to be satisfied once this sweet craving is fulfilled by another sweet. Second, even though artificial sweeteners do not contain calories, they can still promote a release of insulin, which has detrimental effects on our metabolism. This is similar to the “Pavlov’s dog” effect, where even the sight, thought, or smell of food is enough to cause the body to begin to salivate, and also to release insulin.
They cause alzheimers...
And most likely weight gain, diet soda is bad for you in general.
I've heard that diet soda causes weight gain. because you eat more, when you drink diet soda to make up for the lost calories.
yep. that's what the nutrionalists will tell you. kinda makes sense too... the artifical stuff fakes out your tongue, but not your brain. your tongue has been telling your brain, hey i been getting sugar, but your brain says, i dont detect any sugar in our blood stream, so you end up consuming more in order to satisfy the brains sweet craving. kinda makes sense, think about how many overweight people you see ordering a cheesburger and a diet soda?!?
A friend told me that if you drink 1 serving of soda (8 oz) everyday for 1 year, you WILL GAIN AN AVERAGE OF 16LBS/YR if do this every year. Personally I prefer 100% fruit drinks, water, milk/hot chocolate, and an ocassional bacardi or wine. You should do the same to maintain a nice figure.
Eating more calories than you burn is the only cause of weight gain. Don't let any fad tell you differently. The process of gaining weight is just your body storing extra calories. That said, artificial sweeteners aren't at all nutritious, so even though you may be consuming fewer calories, they are still empty calories, meaning they have no nutritional value whatsoever, and the caffeine can dehydrate you. You'd do better to just drink water, or even better, fruit juice. For ethical as well as health reasons I cut all processed food from my diet a while ago, including sodas. Now I'm struggling to gain weight, I've lost so much...