Diet Soda Sweetener Promotes Weight Gain

Diet soda, like most other artificial beverages, is now linked to weight gain. It contains aspartame, the common sugar substitute to sweeten most prepared beverages and foods, making it unsuitable for anyone looking to lose weight.

Although many weight watchers drink diet soda, new research shows that it is not as useful as you might have thought. In fact, it will have the exact opposite effect of what you are trying to achieve.

Further research indicates that even the most acceptable daily intake of aspartame – including that regulated by the FDA – could make the drinker feel hungrier. Compounded over time, this ultimately leads to weight gain. This is bad news if you consider that the consumption of low-calorie sweeteners in the US has increased.

One of these studies, conducted on rodents, showed that aspartame leads to weight gain. Although the reasons behind this are not yet clear, a team of researchers investigated why this natural sweetener fails anyone looking to lose weight.

The research - published in the Applied Physiology, Nutrition, and Metabolism journal - suggested that the metabolites in aspartame play a crucial role in this unexpected turn of events.

Led by Dr. Richard Hodin of the Department of Surgery at Massachusetts General Hospital, the researchers, studied in the intake of aspartame in mice. In the study, phenylalanine – which efficiently inhibits the IAP (intestinal alkaline phosphatase) gut enzyme – is one of the products derived when aspartame is broken down in the body.

This enzyme prevents metabolic syndrome, the generic name used for the group symptoms commonly associated with obesity, cardiovascular disease, and type 2 diabetes.

The team had previously researched the IAP enzyme by feeding it to mice already put on a diet high in fat. Their findings showed that IAP prevents the onset of the above-described syndrome while reducing symptoms in the mice already with the condition.

Going by this known relationship between aspartame, phenylalanine, and IAP, the researchers hypothesized that the consumption of aspartame promotes metabolic syndrome as a direct effect of phenylalanine inhibition.

At the end of the study, the scientists discovered that mice on a high fat diet that also drank diet soda gained weight. This was as opposed to mice that didn’t drink diet soda. Their findings, therefore, show that diet soda doesn’t actually lead to weight loss – in fact, it raises the likelihood of weight gain, as well as of the development of a number of weight-related lifestyle diseases.

In the end, the team found that IAP activity is reduced when IAP is added to aspartame-containing drinks. However, IAP levels remain the same whenever the enzyme is added to a sugary drink.

From the research, the difference between the two groups on a regular diet wasn't significant. However, the mice already on a high-fat diet that were fed aspartame ended up gaining weight compared to those that didn’t consume the sweetener.

When these findings are applied to human beings, it is evident why the already-obese, who are usually on a high fat diet, have a hard time losing weight from diet soda. The aspartame in the soda plays a significant role in blocking IAP activity, leading to further weight gain.

Overall, if you are looking to lose weight, drinking diet soda won’t help you. In fact, it will go the opposite way, causing a steady increase in weight with every glass you imbibe. To achieve your weight loss goals, therefore, you should seriously consider eating a healthy and balanced diet, working out, maintaining an active lifestyle, and – of course – cutting out diet soda.  One such diet, that is now offered at a lower price, is Nutrisystem. Here is a good post on the subject of “Nutrisystem review”.