WIS News 10 - Columbia, South Carolina | Health Alert: Diet soda paradox

Health Alert: Diet soda paradox

(National) Aug. 23, 2005 - Drinking diet sodas should take the guilt out of having regular soft drinks, right? Well, new research says your diet drink may actually be doing more harm than good.

Americans are drinking billions of dollars worth of diet soda every year. If the trend continues, diet soft drinks may soon outsell regular ones.

Katy Camp, 23, personifies the passion for all things diet. She devours up to 12 cans of diet soda a day, "Oh, I'm completely addicted, completely. I have no qualms about even admitting that."

But what Katy doesn't realize is that the calorie-free soda she's drinking may actually cause weight gain. A new study suggests that the more diet soda you drink, the greater chance you have of becoming overweight or obese.

Sharon Fowler, M.P.H., worked on the study, "What we found was that people who were drinking diet soft drinks, two or more per day, had a 57 percent chance of becoming overweight by a seven to eight year follow-up, which was significantly higher than the people who are drinking regular soft drinks."

Why the weight gain? Researchers aren't sure. One cause may be a false sense of "calorie security," as Fowler explains, "People feel they're protected if they're drinking the diet soft drinks. So they think I can get the candy bar to go with the diet soft drink and just a little candy bar, I'm ok."

Experts also exploring a more direct relationship. Fowler says, "One of the possibilities that's been suggested is that there's something about the diet soft drinks that increases the sense of hunger or appetite in the people who consume them."

For now, Katy has no plans of giving up her dozen soda a day habit, but she does hope to cut down.

Fowler emphasizes that more research is needed and says other factors like lack of exercise and an increase in calories from other food sources may be to blame for this diet soda distress.

Reported by Dawndy Mercer

Posted 5:15pm by Chantelle Janelle