The marketing campaigns behind diet drinks always paint their products in a positive light. Consumers are made to believe that diet drinks will help them lose weight, live a healthy and active lifestyle and get to indulge in a sweet treat without any repercussions. These claims couldn’t be further from the truth. Research has proven that diet drinks are incredibly detrimental to your health and have no part being a part of an otherwise healthy diet.
Let’s take a look at diet soda health risks:
- Diet Drinks Cause Weight Gain
Many unsuspecting dieters reach for diet drinks thinking that these calorie-free options are a good choice for their weight loss efforts. Actually, the opposite is true! The artificial sweeteners in diet drinks that can actually lead to weight gain by tricking the body into craving sugar. Diet drinks can also lead to overeating when signals within the body get crossed and confused by the intake of artificial ingredients.
- Diet Sodas Erode Teeth Enamel
The acid level of a diet soda is right around 3.2 pH. This incredibly acidic level eats away at healthy tooth enamel in a quick and efficient manner. Once the tooth enamel is compromised, the tooth is more susceptible to cavities and other dental concerns.
- Diet Sodas Contain Dangerous Chemicals
The main reason that diet sodas are so bad for your health is because they contain so many dangerous chemicals. From artificial sweeteners such as aspartame to mold inhibitors such as potassium benzoate, diet sodas are full of ingredients that have been classified by the FDA as unsafe.
- Diet Drinks Lead to Sugar Cravings
When a person drinks a diet drink full of artificial sweetener, they are playing a trick on their mind and body. Their body gets confused about how to control the amount of calories are needed to function properly and this causes sugar cravings. It’s similar to pulling a prank; the mind and body think they are getting sugar, but when they realize it’s not really sugar, they crave the sweet substance even more.
- Diet Sodas Can Lead to Low Bone Density
Diet sodas have been shown to leach calcium from the body, leading to low bone density. Due to this problem, diet soda drinkers are at an increased risk for osteoporosis. The consumption of diet soda on a regular basis leads to a marked increase in bone fractures, trouble with weight bearing joints and an inability to heal quickly after an injury.
- Diet Drinks Can Cause Headaches
The synthetic sweetener aspartame that is present in many diet drinks has been found to cause headaches. Many diet drink lovers notice that the number of headaches they are forced to suffer through is in direct correlation to the number of diet drinks they consume.
- Diet Drinks Alter Your Taste buds
The chemically-laden and artificially sweetened concoction that is a diet drink does a number on your taste buds. Those who regularly drink several diet drinks a day will start to notice that they are unable to truly taste the natural flavors of whole foods.
- Diet Sodas Can Lead to Kidney Damage
Harvard Medical School found that diet sodas has a direct and negative effect on test subjects’ kidney function. Researchers state that the artificial sweeteners present in diet sodas are to blame for the decrease in kidney function. The kidneys are not able to flush the toxic ingredients found in diet drinks out of the body, leading to devastating results.
- Diet Sodas Can Cause Metabolic Syndrome
The diagnosis of metabolic syndrome involves a patient who experiences disorders such as high blood pressure, obesity and hormone resistance syndrome. The artificial colors, flavors and preservatives in diet sodas all lead to a greater chance of a person being diagnosed with metabolic syndrome if they consume diet sodas on a regular basis.
- Diet Sodas Increase Stress and Anxiety Symptoms
Stress and anxiety are conditions that a large percentage of Americans face. The symptoms of stress and anxiety are worsened when one consumes caffeine, which is present in many diet sodas. Caffeine is a stimulant with addictive properties, and it has been shown to activate stress hormones in the body to trigger stress and anxiety.
- Diet Drinks Lead to Overall Poor Health
We have learned that diet drinks can damage your teeth, bones, kidneys and more. Simply put, the consumption of diet drinks leads to poor health overall. I affects not only the physical body, but one’s emotional and psychological state as well. Diet drinks can put an otherwise healthy person at risk for a whole host of health problems. Risk for a whole host of health problems.
References:
- ACSM Fit Society: Diet Soda: Fewer Calories or More Health Risks?
- Purdue University: Prof: Diet Drinks Are Not the Sweet Solution to Fight Obesity, Health Problems
- Artificial Sweeteners and Cancer
About the Author
Aimable Johnson is a freelance writer and editor. He loves to write and talk about nutrition and healthy living. He’s passionate about helping people improve their physical and emotional wellbeing. You can read more of his articles at Excellent Dieting and also connect with him on Twitter and Google+
