You may think you’re doing your body a favor by choosing zero-calorie sodas over regular ones, but you’re not. And you’re likely to still see an increase in your waist size if you choose zero-calorie sodas.
A study published this year found that people who regularly drank diet sodas over a nine-year period put on three times the amount of body fat of those who did not drink diet sodas. Those who occasionally drank them put on 1.8 times the body fat.
Accumulation of body fat in midsection is linked to cardiovascular disease, diabetes and inflammation.
The key here is that sodas, whether diet or not, are bad for your health.
According to a study in the American Journal of Public Health, if you consume more than two cans of soda each day, you can increase your chances of suffering from depression and anxiety by as much as three times the risk faced by those who drink few to no sodas.
Most sodas contain high fructose corn syrup. HFCS does four things:
- Blocks the assimilation of calcium.
- Causes cancer in test animals and predisposes humans to cancer.
- Bypasses the pancreas as a synthetic sugar. This eventually causes the pancreas to shut down, leading to diabetes.
- Causes obesity and is highly addictive.
But diet drinks that contain no HFCS are equally unhealthy. Zero-calorie sweeteners make drinks up to 600 times sweeter than does regular sugar. And research published in the journal Nature in October 2014 found that artificial sugars made people more susceptible to insulin resistance and glucose intolerance, two precursors to diabetes.
The artificial sweeteners aspartame, sucralose (Splenda), acesulfame K and Advantame have all been linked to a host of chronic illness and disorders including tumors, inflammation, migraines and nervous system disorders.
The sweetener aspartame is a known neurotoxin. In the body it breaks down into phenylalanine, aspartic acid and methanol. When methanol is heated above 86 degrees F, it converts into formaldehyde. The human body’s resting temperature is 98.6 degrees F.
Bottom line, you should avoid soft drinks altogether, especially if you suffer from these symptoms. Unfortunately, many people consume soft drinks almost exclusively these days.
H/T: Naturalsociety.com
