If you choose diet or low-calorie fizzy soft drinks because you believe that they’re a healthier option than the sugary full-calorie versions, here’s some news for you. Research suggests that these diet fizzy drinks could increase your risk of diabetes by up to 60%! The study, published in the ‘American Journal of Clinical Nutrition’, found that drinking just one fizzy drink each day increases the risk of diabetes by a third. Women who drank as much as 1.5 litres of the low-calorie versions each day had around a 60% increased risk of developing diabetes. Researchers believe the artificial sweeteners contained in diet drinks are to blame. Says a report in the journal ‘Trends in Endocrinology and Metabolism’, artificial sweeteners seem to disturb the body’s ability to count calories and, as a result, diet foods and drinks may encourage weight gain rather than weight loss.
Harvard Health believes that people who routinely use artificial sweeteners may start to find less sweet foods like fruits less appealing and unsweet foods like vegetables, downright unpalatable. So, the use of artificial sweeteners can make you reject healthy, filling, and highly nutritious foods while consuming more artificially-flavoured foods with little nutritional value.