Remember how cigarette companies had to stop calling their products "light" because they are still incredibly dangerous to your health? Don't be surprised if the same thing happens to "diet" sodas now that research is starting to pile up showing that they aren't exactly good for your waistline. Researcher Sharon Fowler has been talking about the "diet soda paradox" for a few years now, but this week she and others presented their findings at a meeting of the American Diabetes Association in San Diego which show just how consumption of diet soda drinks has been linked to "increased incidence of obesity, metabolic syndrome, and diabetes."
"Data from this and other prospective studies suggest that the promotion of diet sodas as healthy alternatives may be ill-advised" Fowler and co-researchers Helen Hazuda and Ken Williams said in an abstract. "They may be free of calories, but not of consequences." Though scientists aren't exactly sure why zero-calorie beverages cause wider waists, they definitely are sure it happens. "The more diet sodas people drank, the more their waists grew," Fowler told The Post. "For people who drink two or more diet sodas a day, their waist increase was five times those who drank no diet sodas—almost two inches."
Some researchers, however, think the weight gain associated with diet sodas has more to do with drinkers' other habits, as it is hard to tell if a diet soda drinker was sneaking French fries on the side. "I've seen people use Sweet'N Low in coffee, and then have a scone. Or someone would have a Diet Coke with their potato chips," Lisa Young, an NYU nutritionist, pointed out.
This latest research comes on the heels of studies showing that diet soda drinkers are more prone to strokes and heart attacks. Maybe this is why rich people prefer Coke over America's number two soda, Diet Coke?
