Is Diet Coke Bad For You?

Is Diet coke bad for you? It is marketed as a healthier drink but how can diet coke be healthy if it is loaded with artificial sweeteners such as aspartame, saccharin, sucralose, cyclamates? All these artificial sweeteners if you consume too much of it can lead to a high number of chronic diseases.

One twelve ounce of diet coke contains 0 calories, 0 fat, 0 sugar and 40 mg of sodium. Diet coke contains carbonated water, citric acid, malic acid and phosphoric acid, etc. Some of the most used colors for diet coke are carotenoids, anthocyanins, and caramels.

Research studies have shown that drinking diet soda can increase appetite by stimulating hunger hormones, altering sweet taste receptors, and triggering dopamine responses in the brain. Diet coke has 0 calories so in itself will not necessarily cause weight gain. But it may cause a higher craving for sweet or calorie dense foods.

Some studies have linked one serving of an artificially sweet drink per day to an 8 to 13% risk of type 2 diabetes. A study in 64,850 women that consumed artificially sweet drinks was associated with a 21% higher risk of developing type 2 diabetes.

Diet soda has also been linked to an increased risk of high blood pressure and heart disease. There was a review of 4 studies that totaled over 227,000 people and it showed that serving of artificially sweetened beverage is associated with a 9% risk of high blood pressure.

Most of these studies were observational and more direct experimental research needs to be done to really show a casualty between diet soda and increased blood pressure or blood sugar.

There has been observational research data that showed a link between diet soda and an increased risk of chronic kidney disease. A research study that examined over 15,000 people showed that the risk of developing end stage kidney disease increased with the number of cups of diet soda per week. People who drank more than 7 glasses of diet soda per week nearly doubled the risk of developing kidney disease as opposed to one glass per week.

Research studies have shown that drinking diet soda while pregnant has been linked to preterm delivery issues. There was a Norwegian research study in over 60,000 pregnant women found the intake of artificially sweetened sugar drinks was associated with an 11% higher risk of preterm delivery.

That study that examined over 60,000 women revealed that women who consumed one serving of diet soda per day were 1.4 times more likely to deliver preterm than those who didn’t.

Some other negative health effects of drinking a high consumption of diet soda are an increased risk of osteoporosis. Diet and regular soda have been associated with bone mineral density loss. It has also been associated with dental erosion and tooth decay because of its acidic PH level.

“It is marketed as a healthier drink but how can diet coke be healthy if it is loaded with artificial sweeteners such as aspartame, saccharin, sucralose, cyclamates?” Celebrity Fitness & Nutrition Expert Obi Obadike

The Bottom Line is that diet soda is not as healthy as it is marketed. The artificial sweeteners are what makes the beverage unhealthy. And if you consume a high amount of diet soda there is enough observational data that shows that you can possibly be at risk for a lot of chronic diseases.

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14. Diet Coke- https://www.dietcoke.com/products/diet-coke