Bad News for Us Diet Soda Addicts
My wife has been asking me to give up diet soda for years, but I've managed to keep her at bay by telling her that, at the very least, drinking diet soda reduces my sugar intake.
Well, the Gourmet magazine email newsletter I just received says the opposite may be true. It mentions a recent study from the Mount Sinai School of Medicine, in New York City, in which researchers concluded that "drinking diet soda actually causes your body to absorb more sugar. Turns out that artificial sweeteners trigger the same taste receptors in the small intestine that glucose does, releasing hormones that absorb sugar into the bloodstream."
I'm afraid I'm going to have to come up with another rationale to justify my Fresca and Diet Coke regimen.
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6 Comments:
We're Fresca and Diet Coke drinkers at our house, too. I don't see anything in that article that would make me need to give them up. Basically, the message is to be aware of what you eat.
"But don't ditch your diet drink yet.
The message is not to give up your diet soda and go drink a regular soda," says researcher Susan Swithers, PhD, associate professor of psychological sciences at Purdue University. "But when you do drink beverages you probably need to pay a little more attention to whether they have calories or not and what the consequences of that fact will be on the rest of your diet."
Library Lady at 3:02PM on 09/27/07
why not just give it up-you know it is not a good idea to fill your body with aspertame or whatever they use for fake sugar.
elemenop at 3:16PM on 09/27/07
It's good to know, but then again, so many conflicting studies come out on diet soda. I've heard that it's probably best that if you're going to have the occasional soda, just drink regular. Somehow, I feel better if I drink diet, knowing how many teaspoons of sugar are in a soda (plus, being used to diet, regular is more syrupy tasting).
But because I drink a soda once a week or less, I'm not too concerned either way and get whatever one I feel like having.
misseditor at 3:45PM on 09/27/07
Every now and then I get on a kick where I buy into the diet soda spiel and try to switch to it. The last time I did, the girlfriend quickly shooed me away from it. She'd rather me drink the sugar of regular cola than the goofy sci-fi fake sugars. Now, I just try to limit my soda consumption, which for me is difficult, having been raised on the stuff.
Adam Kuban at 3:54PM on 09/27/07
I rarely drink soda now that I've found an adequately fizzy substitution in GT's Kombucha tea drinks. The somewhat sour taste may take some getting used to--but I liked it right away because I am a vinegar fiend. And because it's fermented, it gives me a buzz reminiscent to a sugar high without the low.
How I ended my longstanding Coke addiction:
http://www.howtoeatlikeabird.com/how_to_eat_like_a_bird/2007/08/how-i-weened-my.html
bluebird at 4:32AM on 09/28/07
I like to drink an occasional real soda and have periods where I am a heavy diet soda drinker, primarily Fresca (especially peach), A&W, and Boylan's diet cane. Diet IBC is a great diet root beer, too, when I can find it.
However, I buy into the glucose thing only because when I'm drinking diet soda I tend to have the sugar lows that I experience after drinking normal soda. It's like my body wants sugar but can't find it. It's caused me to go back to my drink of choice: water. I feel much more even throughout the day on water.
Still, though, if I'm looking for a caffeine buzz, my first choice is a Diet Mt Dew or Diet Coke.
My suggestion is that people treat sodas like fine chocolates and look for places that sell quality glass-bottled sodas, like Boylan, Sioux City, Mexican Coke, IBC, etc, and just them occasionally.
extramsg at 6:27PM on 09/30/07