Purdue prof: Diet drinks might not be healthier | capitalpress.com

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. (AP) — Walking back to work after a trip to Chauncey Hill for fountain soft drinks, the two women had their health in mind.

Suzanne Payne had a regular soft drink, but knew it was a rare, sugary treat that she probably wouldn’t finish. Susan Corwin chose a diet, caffeine-free drink.

Which soft drink — regular or diet — is the healthier choice?

That’s the wrong question to ask, said Susie Swithers, a professor of psychological sciences and a behavioral neuroscientist at Purdue University. She said the real question is: What is our daily sugar intake?

“It’s about the overall sweetening of our diets,” she told the Journal & Courier (http://on.jconline.com/12rAEgR ).

A cultural shift has made having daily soft drinks acceptable, she said.

“It’s really candy in a can. If people think of it as candy, they would say that they wouldn’t have candy at every meal.”

The message has been that diet soda is healthier since it has artificial sweetener and no calories, but Swithers said tracking sugar intake means limiting real and artificial sugars.

She reviewed recent scientific studies about the long-term link between artificial sweeteners and health outcomes.

“Findings from a variety of studies show that routine consumption of diet sodas, even one per day, can be connected to higher likelihood of heart disease, stroke, diabetes, metabolic syndrome and high blood pressure, in addition to contributing to weight gain,” she said.

“Although it seems like common sense that diet sodas would not be problematic, that doesn’t appear to be the case.”

Her findings were published Wednesday in “Trends in Endocrinology & Metabolism.”

The study triggered an immediate reaction from the American Beverage Association, the trade association for the non-alcoholic drinks industry.

In an emailed statement the organization called Swithers’ study “an opinion piece, not a scientific study.”

“Low-calorie sweeteners are some of the most studied and reviewed ingredients in the food supply today. They are safe and an effective tool in weight loss and weight management, according to decades of scientific research and regulatory agencies around the globe.”

Swithers said there could be several causes for the link between negative health outcomes and artificial sweeteners.

When the body tastes something sweet, it reacts to prepare for calories and sugar intake, she said. But when that doesn’t happen — because the sweetener is artificial — the body reacts again, learning that sweet doesn’t mean calories.

Then, when a diet soda drinker eats something sugary, the body doesn’t react properly, Swithers said. She said that may be why people who drink a mix of diet and regular soda have the largest chance of negative health outcomes.

Another possibility is that people who drink diet soft drinks think they are being health conscious, so they splurge with a piece of cake — replacing the calories they just avoided, Swithers said. Or it may be a combination of factors, she said. She said some possibilities have been proven in animals but not humans.

Since there isn’t a large body of research to discourage artificial sweeteners, Patty Denton, a dietitian at IU Health Arnett, said she doesn’t discourage them. However, she said, sugars should be consumed in moderation. Even some flavored waters and energy drinks contain sugar. A can of regular soda can have 150 calories.

For Payne, a regular soft drink is a special treat. Corwin said caffeine-free and diet drinks have helped her cut down on calories.

“At the end of the day,” Denton said about gaining and losing weight, “it’s calories in and it’s calories out.”

Information from: Journal and Courier, http://www.jconline.com

KS

Do Diet Drinks Mess Up Metabolisms? : The Salt : NPR

Do Diet Drinks Mess Up Metabolisms?
Some researchers think that artificial sweeteners, most frequently consumed in diet drinks, may confuse the body.Enlarge image

Some researchers think that artificial sweeteners, most frequently consumed in diet drinks, may confuse the body.

Justin Sullivan/Getty Images

It may seem counterintuitive, but there’s a body of evidence to suggest that the millions of Americans with a diet soda habit may not be doing their waistlines — or their blood sugar — any favors.

As the consumption of diet drinks made with artificial sweeteners continues to rise, researchers are beginning to make some uncomfortable associations with weight gain and other diseases.

For instance, as researcher Susan Swithers writes in a new opinion piece published in the journal Trends in Endocrinology and Metabolism, “accumulating evidence suggests that frequent consumers of these sugar substitutes (such as aspartame, sucralose, and saccharin) may also be at increased risk of … metabolic syndrome, type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular disease.”

If you listen to my conversation on Here & Now, you’ll hear that there are two schools of thought here. Not everyone is convinced that diet soda is so bad.

For instance, a study I reported on last year by researchers at Boston Children’s Hospital found that overweight teens did well when they switched from sugar-laden drinks to zero-calorie options such as diet soda.

But it’s also hard to ignore the gathering body of evidence that points to potentially bad outcomes associated with a diet soda habit.

One example: the findings of the San Antonio Heart Study, which pointed to a strong link between diet soda consumption and weight gain over time.

“On average, for each diet soft drink our participants drank per day, they were 65 percent more likely to become overweight during the next seven to eight years” said Sharon Fowler, in a release announcing the findings several years back.

Another bit of evidence: A multi-ethnic study, which included some 5,000 men and women, found that diet soda consumption was linked to a significantly increased risk of both type-2 diabetes and metabolic syndrome.

So, what gives? How could consuming less sugar set the stage for more weight gain and an increased risk of disease?

Well, since being overweight is a major contributor to the development of type 2 diabetes, it’s possible that some diet-soda drinkers suffer from a mindset problem: They justify eating lots of high-calorie foods because their drinks are calorie-free.

It’s the “hey, I’ll go ahead and have those fries and a cheeseburger, since I’m having a Diet Coke” mentality.

It’s also possible that something much more complicated and nuanced is happening in the bodies and brains of diet soda drinkers.

As Swithers points out, “Frequent consumption of high-intensity [artificial] sweeteners may have the counterintuitive effect of inducing metabolic derangements.”

Say what? Metabolic derangements?

One theory is that diet soda may throw off the metabolism by blunting the body’s responses to sugar.

You see, from the moment sugar touches our lips, our bodies start to release hormones to begin processing the sugar. It’s part of a feedback loop that helps the body predict what’s coming.

But if we develop a habit of consuming artificial sugar, our bodies may get confused. And it might not respond the same when we consume real sugar. “We may no longer release the hormones” needed to process sugar — or at least, not as much of them as before, Swithers told me during an interview.

And researchers think this change in hormone levels could contribute to increases in how much we eat, says Swithers, “as well as to bigger spikes in our blood sugar, which may be related to things like diabetes.”

Now, Swithers says much more research is needed to nail down what’s happening when people consume artificial sweeteners.

What is clear is that diet soda consumption continues to rise. Women tend to lead the way, and increasingly, children are popping open the calorie-free sodas that mom and dad are drinking.

Update: After we published our post, we received this statement from the American Beverage Association:

“Low-calorie sweeteners are some of the most studied and reviewed ingredients in the food supply today. They are safe and an effective tool in weight loss and weight management, according to decades of scientific research and regulatory agencies around the globe.”

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