by Sandeep Godiyal
(NaturalNews) Sodas have a reputation for being among the worst drinks
available health-wise. For one, these drinks contain loads of sugar,
which makes frequent consumption of these drinks a potential trigger for
diabetes mellitus, one of the most dreaded diseases of our time.
Because of this, people are making a switch to diet soda products. But
studies show that replacing soda with their diet variants doesn't
necessarily decrease the risk. In fact, the opposite just might be true.
Does diet soda increase the risk of diabetes?
Sugar, while it is
an essential ingredient for a lot of physiological processes, is known
to have a lot of negative effects to the body when consumed in excess.
And with the modern eating habits and the rise of processed food, people
are unwittingly putting excess sugar in their system. The increase in
sugar consumption by the general public is directly proportional to the
rate of obesity. In addition, it can contribute to the worsening of
particular ailments such as diabetes.
Because of growing
awareness to these health issues, diet variants of soda (which uses
artificial sweeteners such as aspartame) are becoming very popular
additions to supermarket shelves and family diets. They are very popular
for what they are, having no sugar, and therefore no calories. The
presence of such drinks had people going on a diet and/or those
suffering from diabetes dancing with joy. But if recent studies are to
be heeded, people may have to think twice before picking up that diet soda can, bottle, or glass.
This
may seem to be a curious statistic, but different studies done by
reputable researchers reveal that those who drank "light" sodas actually
increased their risk of contracting Type II diabetes.
The odds of acquiring diabetes for diet drinkers are actually higher
than those who drink regular soda. These results are found to be
consistent, even when measured on an "equal-serving" basis. And what's
even more bothersome is that there's a craving effect associated with
these drinks (more on that later). According to studies, people who
frequently consume diet soda take them at almost twice the amount compared to those who drink regular soda or fruit juice.
What are the reasons behind this startling statistic? Studies have shown that those who consume products made with artificial sweeteners
such as aspartame have a higher affinity for sugar. That is, those who
are exposed to higher amounts of aspartame actually crave for more
sugary items, leading to binges that can further increase the risk of contracting diabetes and other health complications.
Last
but not least, even though aspartame doesn't contain any sugar, it had
some physiological effects similar to sugar, thus increasing blood sugar
levels and eventually insulin levels. It's this sudden increase in
insulin production that leads to desensitization to insulin, the main
symptom of Type II diabetes.
And while the risk of Type II diabetes in frequent diet
soda drinkers is still under debate and investigation, what cannot be
disputed is its role in other related diseases. For one, it has a direct
role in the proliferation of metabolic disorder. Such a syndrome
greatly increases the risk of having Type II diabetes, hypertension,
central obesity, and other nasty physiological and physical risks.
It
can be argued that studies have shown that as long as you keep a
generally healthy lifestyle (eating healthy foods, having consistent
exercise, etc.), you can avoid the health risks presented by too much
consumption of diet soda. But as analysts of any craft would tell you,
statistics don't lie. If you do not want to acquire Type II diabetes
(among other health problems) later in life, it's better to avoid
consuming diet soda instead of playing the odds.
Sources for this article include:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com
http://www.diabetes.org/diabetes-basics/diabetes-statistics/
http://www.diabetes.org/diabetes-basics/type-2/?loc=DropDownDB-type2
http://www.naturalnews.com/039155_diet_soda_diabetes_artificial_sweeteners.html
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