Diet soft drinks…as good as water?

It’s hard to fathom the lengths that the soda giants will go to in order to convince us that their products are ‘good’ for us. Would you believe that Coke and Pepsi have funded a study which claims that diet soft drinks are just as good as water when it comes to weight loss?

Here are some points from a recent article on the topic:

• The research has been published in the International Journal of Obesity and was partially funded by ILSI Europe, which is an industry-backed research body that has Coca-Cola and Pepsi Co as some of its members.
• Consumerist states the lead study author had once received research funding from Sugar Nutrition, UK, an industry lobby group once known as the British Sugar Bureau. Other members of the research team are “employees and shareholders of companies that manufacture products containing sugars and low-energy sweeteners.”
• The study claims “overall, the balance of evidence indicates that use of low-energy sweeteners in place of sugar, in children and adults, leads to reduced energy intake and body weight, and possibly also when compared with water.”
• The findings are said to be based on three out of 5,500 related papers.
• The only study that actually states diet soda is better than water when it comes to weight loss was funded by the American Beverage Association, a powerful lobby group who has been fighting against soda taxes in the US.
• In contrast to this soda-funded study, previous research has highlighted the dangers of diet soft drink. One study has found that artificial sweetener aspartame, a common ingredient in diet soda, may alter the brain’s reward system leading to headaches, insomnia and anxiety.
• Diet soda has also been linked to increased risk of metabolic syndrome (leading to heart disease and diabetes) and increased abdominal fat. One nine-year study even found that a daily diet soda increases your chance of becoming obese in the next decade by 65 per cent.

What’s the message? Stick with good old-fashioned water!

Follow the link to read the full article.