New research results are blaming diet sodas for obesity and weight gain.
Researchers at Johns Hopkins University have analyzed the data from a U.S. survey of 24,000 people over a period of 10 years. Their conclusion from the study: people who were overweight or obese generally consumed the same amount of calories a day no matter what they drank, but those who chose diet drinks got more of those calories from food.
“When you make that switch from a sugary beverage for a diet beverage, you’re often not changing other things in your diet,” says lead researcher Sara Bleich, associate professor in the Department of Health Policy and Management at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. Bleich and other Johns Hopkins researchers used data from the 1999-2010 National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey. Throughout the study, they analyzed participants’ recollection of what they’d had to eat and drink over the past 24 hours.
In the study, published Thursday in the American Journal of Public Health, overweight drinkers of diet beverages in the United States ate 1,965 in food calories a day compared to 1,874 calories among heavy people who drank regular sugar-sweetened beverages.
Of course, the beverage industry, which has long promoted diet drinks as an alternative to full-calorie beverages, is defending its products. “Losing or maintaining weight comes down to balancing the total calories consumed with those burned through physical activity,” the American Beverage Association said in a statement on Thursday.
All beverages that include sugar can add on pounds and calories quickly. If you really want to cut calories, stick to drinking water and decrease sugar, calories and appetite.
Do you drink diet soda? Do you think diet soda makes you eat more?
