Are Diet Soda Really Helpful To Our Diet?

Diet soda

We have heard of it and some of us even drink it. Ever since diet soda were released in the market, lots of people especially those carefully watching their weight or on the way towards losing weight, have thought of it as the solution to drinking their favorite drink without having to gulp in the sugars and calories removed from it. But over time, more and more studies have been released revealing the real truth behind diet soda.

What are Diet Soda?

Diet soda have numerous names in many parts of the world. It is also referred to as diet pop, refreshments, light soft drinks, sugar-free soda , or simply diet. Diet soda are beverages that are free of sugar, contain artificial sweeteners and are a non-alcoholic carbonated drink. Its main target in the market are people who are conscious of their sugar levels, those who are health conscious, athletes and people closely watching their weight.

Diet:

Before we go any deeper, we need to first understand what diet really means. When we say diet, it is mainly what a person usually includes in meals from food to drinks. Diet does not mean losing weigh rather, it is the usual types of foods and drinks included on meals. In order to maintain a healthy weight and body, we must make sure that we eat right and this means eating the right amount of foods from different food groups. There should be variety and the proportion of food should be right too. Clearly, whichever food group table you look at no matter from what country, you won’t see chemicals and caffeine included. But this does not mean you should deprive yourself of what you want to eat or drink this goes the same for diet soda. You should drink it on an occasional basis NOT regular basis.

Diet sodas

What Diet Soda Contain

Diet soda are a mixture of different kinds of artificial sweeteners rather than sugar to give it a hint of sweetness. Although some people think that diet soda tastes like the regular ones while some people think its sweetness isn’t as satisfactory to the regular ones but either way, diet soda have become such a hit in stores. But not many of us know what diet soda really contain specifically what kinds of sweeteners are added to it. Below are the types of sweeteners used in making a diet soda.

• Aspartame (also known as NutraSweet): This is a commonly used artificial sweetener and was introduced in 1982. In most diet soda and even other types of beverages that has the word “diet”, expect to find aspartame enlisted as part of its ingredients most especially products from the United States.

• Cyclamates: Although aspartame is commonly used, cyclamates were the first artificial sweeteners used in diet soda and it actually works with saccharin which is another kind of artificial sweetener. Back then, people who were able to tasted diet soda containing cyclamates say that it tasted better but by 1970, the Food and Drug Administration banned the use of this artificial sweetener in the United States. This is because a study was done testing it to lab rats which caused cancer. Unfortunately, up to this day there are other countries still use this and still include it to diet soda.

• Saccharin: After cyclamates were no longer allowed to be used, the makers of diet soda used saccharin instead. This artificial sweetener received a lot of critic because it tasted bitter and has a chemical aftertaste. Because of this, makers of diet soda wanted to correct it by adding in a small amount of sugar but by 1977 the Food and Drug Administration gave a petition to ban it too for they claimed it to be a carcinogen but the ban was placed to an halt not until studies were released to prove it. By 1991, the ban was no longer in effect but at that time most diet soda were using aspartame.

• Sucralose and acesulfame potassium: These two sweeteners sucralose also known as Splenda and acesulfame potassium also known as Sunett or Ace K have been used too and they are usually used with aspartame, sucralose or saccharin. There have been reports saying that diet soda that contain this happen to taste naturally sweet and does not have a strong aftertaste too while some say that it’s just like the old kinds of diet soda only this time it has something different in it.

Diet Sodas and Weight Loss

There are actually people who like diet soda while there are those who doesn’t. But either way, studies are being conducts to check if these artificial sweeteners can confuse out taste buds. Most people who drink diet soda is to use it to avoid the calories especially those who want to lose weight but unfortunately some people only end up gaining more weight. in fact, there was a study done by the University of Texas where it showed that people who drink diet soda are more at risk of being overweight while others would become obese in a span of between seven to eight years.

Alternative:

After finding about more about diet soda, perhaps at this point you are wondering what alternative there is.

The first one is called Xylitol. Experts recommend that you go for products that have natural sugars rather than going for those with artificial sweeteners. Xylitol is actually a polyalcohol sugar and is commonly used by people who are diabetic. Numerous sugarless gum has xylitol in it to prevent the occurrence of tooth decay. It only contains half the calories of sugar but tastes sweeter so when using it you only need a little.

Another great alternative to diet soda are of course water. But if you want something with flavor, why not try drinking water with lemon or ice teas that are unsweetened. There are numerous variations of tea plus an added advantage is that tea is very good for the health and you can drink it cold or hot. If you are looking for something sweet to your drinks you can use stevia which is a non-caloric sweetener.

diet pop

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