How Diet Soda Actually Makes You Fat

1. GailW
   January 4th, 2009 at 1:44 pm

   I've been telling my overweight, diet soda swigging friends this for years but no one will listen because their ears are too fat.

2. Moon
   January 4th, 2009 at 2:20 pm

   Man, does this sound like a lot of crap. "emerging research"?? What is "emerging research"?? Research that isn't complete yet? Research that hasn't been verified by anyone?

   Questions about Aspartame which is one of the most studied substances ever and we're supposed to believe "emerging research"?

   "Diet soda is 100 percent nutrition-free" So is water, which is his alternative. I wonder how much nutrition tea has, other than being one of the highest sources of caffeine.

3. Tempscire
   January 4th, 2009 at 2:31 pm

   I think my sweet tooth is already firmly cemented, regardless of soda, diet soda, or water. Also,

   So one diet soda a day is fine, but if you're downing five or six cans

   Oh my god. It's almost weight gain is caused in part by poor impulse control.

4. Gauldar
   January 4th, 2009 at 3:40 pm

   People I know have reason to why they don't drink pop with aspertame. My sister and my mom get headaches when they drink it, my friend doesn't like it because he feels it leaves chemicals in the body that it cannot deal with (if that's true or not... meh), but I don't drink it because I think it tastes like ass.

5. Qjet
   January 4th, 2009 at 3:47 pm

   this conclusion is ridiculously bad.

   in otherwords what hes saying is NO
   DIET SODA DOES NOT MAKE YOU GAIN WEIGHT.
   IT DOESN'T
   IT ABSOLUTELY DOESN'T
   the food you eat afterword? Maybe
   diet soda? NO.

6. LisaL
   January 4th, 2009 at 6:56 pm

   Bunch of bullflop.... *takes a swig of her diet soda*

7. Nathan Miller
   January 4th, 2009 at 7:10 pm

   I recently read something similar, but it didn't blame the 'sweet tooth' on the weight gain of diet soda, but rather the 'seatbelt effect' of people making up for the diet soda with extra whatever.

   The idea being, if I get a diet soda instead of a regular soda, I can justify super-sizing the meal.

   Interesting now that Gov Paterson is proposing a tax on non-diet sodas in NY.

8. opinionated
   January 4th, 2009 at 8:04 pm

   Tea has varying degrees of caffeine depending on the type of tea (white tea has very little). The reason it's hailed for health benefits is its high levels of antioxidants which fight free radicals that speed aging, promote cancer, and a whole slew of other things.

   A CNN article I read recently said that Diet Soda's a bad idea because it's not real sugar, so it doesn't fix your body's sugar cravings. In turn, you eat more and more to find your sugar fix. It makes sense and so does this little bit you posted. Too bad it doesn't stop my family from guzzling down that ass soda.

9. Tony LaRocca
   January 4th, 2009 at 9:37 pm

   Something without calories cannot make you gain weight. It's impossible.

   Being an idiot and pigging out because "it's ok since I'm drinking diet soda" will.

10. Christophe
    January 4th, 2009 at 9:42 pm

    Water is polluted, drink wine.

11. Sofar
    January 4th, 2009 at 10:22 pm

    Can't stand diet soda anyway. It is my firm opinion that no one knows anything and you should hammer out your diet according to trial and error.

12. Chakolate
    January 4th, 2009 at 11:02 pm

    I suspect that the mechanism is as follows: with the first bite/sip of something that tastes like it has calories, the liver signals the pancreas to release a lot of insulin. This clears the glucose out of the blood stream and readies you for more nourishment. This mechanism is clearly understood. It's why appetizers make you hungrier instead of full.

    However, when you drink a diet soda, the same thing happens, then you get hungry because the insulin has worked.

    That's my guess, but I'd like to see some research on it.

13. XuYu
    January 5th, 2009 at 4:25 am

    One year X is bad, the next year X is good, the next year X is bad again...

    Rinse. Repeat.

14. XuYu
    January 5th, 2009 at 4:34 am

    For example, here's some "expert" advice from 2007:

    ''' While fighting obesity is complicated, Ludwig said, the first step is clear. "Giving up sugary soda for diet drinks, or water, will cause you to lose weight." '''

    http://www.cnn.com/2007/HEALTH/diet.fitness/09/18/kd.liquid.calories/i ndex.html

15. groksocket
    January 5th, 2009 at 10:40 am

    The quoted blurb makes no sense if you are planning to simply replace your current regular soda intake with diet soda, as I think most people do.

16. Moon
    January 5th, 2009 at 2:27 pm

    Even White Tea has a lot of caffeine:

    http://www.stashtea.com/caffeine.htm

    You can make a case that ANYTHING is bad for you, if you try hard enough. My guess is that the author of this article is being used by the bottled water or tea manufacturers.

17. Noelegy
    January 5th, 2009 at 5:19 pm

    *sigh* If it were only Diet Coke, I'd have no problem; that stuff is narsty. But I actually LIKE Coke Zero and Diet Dr Pepper. I have been drinking three a day, but have cut down to just one at lunch.

18. Rocky Rook
    January 7th, 2009 at 1:47 pm

    It's all taste association. I think if you drink diet colas by themselves and not eat anything for a couple or few hours (before and after), you'd probably not gain weight. But if you're stuffing your face with food while chugging down diet dew, you're gonna get flubby.

19. Mr. Lean
    January 17th, 2009 at 11:46 pm

    I bet a vast majority of those who oppose this study are overweight lol.

20. ultima
    February 1st, 2009 at 3:38 pm

    diet soda dose make you fat, it happens very slowly and when you try to loose weight it is impossible. i know it happened to me. i gave up the diet soda and i was able to loose weight.
    i gave up diet soda about 3 yrs ago for 6 months. i was able to loose 20lbs i could not loose before with a 1000 calorie diet and 1 hour of exercise a day i could not loose 1 pound. after the 6 months of no diet coke, i went back to diet soda. and slowly the weight creep back on, like it did before.
    i have proven it with my own body.
    its been two years and my diet soda habit has caused me to gain the weight back.
    for the record diet soda was not always like this, when they changed the formulas back in the mid to late 90s thats when this happened. diet coke also became less fizzy over this time. its the new sweetners from 96 forward that did it. probably the high fructose corn syrup and stuff like that.
    if diet coke went back to the old formulas we would all be slimmer.

21. majestic
    February 7th, 2009 at 11:06 pm

    this is to "ultima". diet soda does not get you fat. i've read articles of studies all over the place. it is impossible to gain wieght from diet soda because it has no calories. it doesn't have high fructose corn syrup like you say. it's just basically horribly flavored carbonated water(unless it's Coke Zero which tastes good). you probably slightly gained wieght because you would eat things after you drink the diet soda. i got on a diet about 4 months ago.gave up soda 3 months ago but i still lost wieght when i drank soda because i didn't drink allot of it.i started drinking diet soda(stopped now because the fizz would make my stomach hurt a bit and throat hurt) after i gave up soda and i still lost wieght.its been almost 4 months and i've lost around 23pounds.

22. Rick Horsman
    February 23rd, 2009 at 2:18 pm

    As soon as your body tastes something sweet it responds by releasing insulin to deal with the sugar it feels it has consumed. Once no sugar comes down to meet with the insulin the insulin stores itself as fat. So YES diet sodas DO make you gain fat. Scientific proof is everywhere.
    Google "cephalic reflex" for more info on what I've already said.

23. Brian
    February 26th, 2009 at 6:02 pm

    I think its hog wash.. I lost 43 pounds once all while drinking 4-6 cans of diet soda the whole way.. Its your diet and amount of excerise you get that counts.. Some people say they worked out for 1 Hr at the gym.. Did they actually work out or did the pace around the gym talking to other people and really not apply them selves?? Its all about calories.. Burn more than you consume and you will loose weight..

24. sxgt
    March 27th, 2009 at 2:54 pm

    Its seems that this article is very misleading, Its saying that diet soda will make you hungry for calorie dense things.

    If you think a zero calorie beverage can be stored as fat , I urge you to back to your basic high school biology class.

    I have lost 10 pounds drinking a LOT of diet soda every single day. Its also FAT weight not muscle or fluid weight.

    Its simple Biology really , calories in verses calories out.

25. GeekTracker
    April 30th, 2009 at 1:30 pm

    I think the real reason Americans are getting fat is because all the chemicals, preservtives in our food, including diet soda, have virtually killed all most of the bacteria one used find in the diet that helps break down the foods. Just visit Venezuela for a week, eat nothing but the local foods (which is great), drink some local water, and you shoul lose ten lbs. by the time you get back. Your digestive system will be so full of bacteria from the foods that your colon will explode the sh** out!

26. Glitch50
    May 11th, 2009 at 1:54 pm

    BEHOLD! THE ULTIMATE WAY TO LOSE WEIGHT:

    burn more calories than you take in.

    AKA: calories burned > calories in.

27. AmyW
    July 19th, 2009 at 3:31 am

    Isn't it interesting how people just keep coming up with more and more excuses for weight gain? "oh, its not my fault, its the artificial sweetners tricking my body" whatever....heres a hint people...drinking a diet soda along with your big mac and supersized fries and apple pie is not the cause of your problem. put your fork down and take a walk for crying out loud!

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