The trend among obese kids is to drink diet colas.
The new study, from the University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio, set out to determine whether there was any connection between diet soda consumption and Belly Fat. The researchers followed 750 European-American and Mexican-American people over the age of 65 for almost 10 years.
It turned out that people who drank the most diet soda (at least one drink per day) had a much steeper rise in waist circumference over the years than those who didn’t drink the stuff at all. After adjusting for other variables like smoking status, age, activity level, the results were still striking: Waist circumference increased 0.8 inches for “non-users” (that is, non-diet-soda-drinkers), 1.83 in for occasional users, and 3.16 inches for daily users.
WHY?
Artificial sweeteners may shift the assortment of friendly bacteria in the gut. A study last fall found altered ratios of gut bacteria (along with glucose intolerance) in both mice and men after drinking artificially sweetened drinks for a week. Gut bacteria are well known to affect how we digest and metabolize food, and if their ideal ratios are altered in any way, this may pave the way for overweight and obesity.
Last month a highly publicized study suggested the caramel color in some sodas, 4-methylimidazole, was found in amounts sufficient to increase our cancer risk, prompting the authors to call for federal regulation.
REMEMBER
Diet product doesn’t mean being consequence-free!
Source: Forbes & Others
