Hi Eagerwatcher,

there was a discussion about this very thing on Good Morning America and you might find the following of interest:

"A Purdue University study released Sunday in the journal Behavioral Neuroscience reported that rats on diets containing the artificial sweetener saccharin gained more weight than rats given sugary food, casting doubt on the benefits of low-calorie sweeteners.

"There’s something about diet foods that changes your metabolic limit, your brain chemistry," said ABC News’ medical contributor Dr. Marie Savard.

Though Savard said more research needs to be done to uncover more information, the study does hint at the idea that the sweeteners alter a person’s metabolism.

Savard said another recent study, which included more than 18,000 people, found healthy adults who consumed at least one diet drink a day could increase their chance for weight gain.

In the Purdue study, the rats whose diets contained artificial sweeteners appeared to experience a physiological connection between sweet tastes and calories, which drove them to overeat".

There was another discussion on CBS News and although they didn’t agree on the reason the upshot was the same.

Not only does it appear that diet sodas are less fattening but they’re full of junk, so my advice and that of many others is, don’t drink them!

I don’t really have any sources to link to here, but I heard from a nutritionist that diet drinks are more fattening. That’s the main reason I’ve continued drinking regular instead of going for the diet ones.

Diet drinks contain more fats and less sugar.

How dangerous is diet soda?

Dr. Manny Alvarez, senior managing health editor of FoxNews.com says.

“Just because it says ‘diet,’ doesn’t mean it’s healthy or the key to losing weight”. Alvarez warned.

While making the switch from regular soda to diet may save on calories, drinking more than one per day may actually increase a person’s risk of type 2 diabetes.

And Patricia Bannan, a registered dietician, offered a second opinion:

“While I think having a regular diet soda once in a while is OK, I recommend people limit them as much as possible,” she said. “The reason for that is twofold – number one, both regular and diet soda is very sweet and it can trigger your sweet tooth and get you accustomed to eating very sweet foods and craving more sugary foods. The second reason is that both regular and diet soda have undesirable ingredients. Regular soda is packed with sugar, packed with empty calories, and diet soda has a lot of artificial ingredients”.

According to recent studies, diet soda may be linked with an increased risk of stroke. Prior research has already linked soda with obesity, kidney damage and certain cancers.

Patricia Bannan, a registered dietician, offered a second opinion:

“While I think having a regular diet soda once in a while is OK, I recommend people limit them as much as possible,” she said. “The reason for that is twofold – number one, both regular and diet soda is very sweet and it can trigger your sweet tooth and get you accustomed to eating very sweet foods and craving more sugary foods. The second reason is that both regular and diet soda have undesirable ingredients. Regular soda is packed with sugar, packed with empty calories, and diet soda has a lot of artificial ingredients.”

Bannan recommended drinking flat or sparkling water with a splash of fruit juice, or making ‘infused’ water using cucumbers, berries, limes or mint.

I actually don’t regard them as any different to each other. Both of them contain aspertame in varying degrees, among other artificial and cancerous ingredients, which is enough to make one cringe.

Thanks for posting.

If my memory serves me well, around 25 years ago pilots were complaining of black-outs and the cause was ascertained to be aspartame.

And maybe that sounds even more dangerous than cancer?