What You Don’t Know About Diet Sodas
by Dr. Samar Shehaiber, D.C. RRT
As you relax in front of the TV with your large diet coke, chips, and sandwich, you think to yourself, “I’m better now that I switched over to diet.” You think? A new study came out recently suggesting that diet soda may not be the healthier alternative after all. Most popular diet drinks have a risk of increasing your chances for stroke, myocardial infarction (heart attack) and vascular death.
First of all, there is nothing “diet” about diet soda. The impact it has on your health is as follows:
- It increases your appetite – Because it contains phosphoric acid, it depletes the calcium from your body.
- It contains Aspartame – which has 92 known side effects alone according to FDA data. Aspartame which is also called (NutraSweet, Equal, Spoonful, Benevia, Equal Measure, Canderel, etc.) can be broken down into three amino acid components, phenylalanine, methanol, and aspartate. These are further broken down into metabolites which are toxic to the body. Methanol breaks down into formaldehyde and L-phenylalanine is a carcinogen and neurotoxin. Normal humans do not metabolize phenylalanine efficiently.
- The high fructose corn syrup used is genetically engineered.
- The caramel coloring is also linked to vascular problems. This substance promotes insulin resistance which is needed to process calories. It is also correlated with causing inflammation in the body.
The study, which followed more than 2500 multi-ethnic individuals for nine or more years, found that people who drank diet soda every day increased their chances 61% for strokes, heart attacks, and vascular events. The risk also persisted for metabolic syndrome, which is a cluster of risk factors such as excessive fat around the waist, low levels of HDL, the “good” cholesterol, and high blood pressure. Adults and children who drink regular or diet soda increase their chances of metabolic syndrome by 50%. When you have metabolic syndrome, your risk for heart trouble and stroke doubles. You also have a risk of developing diabetes.
Those who drink one or more soft drinks a day also have a 31% greater risk of becoming obese. An increased waist circumference yields stronger predictions towards heart disease than weight gain alone.
They also have a 25% increased risk of developing high blood triglycerides and high blood sugar, and a 32% higher risk of having low HDL or high density lipoprotein “good” cholesterol levels.
On average those who consume sodas and other energy drinks, tend to eat more calories, consume more saturated fats and trans fats, eat less fiber, live a sedentary lifestyle and exercise less. They tend to have unhealthy diet habits that lead to increased heart disease risks.
The carbonation in these drinks robs the body of nutrients and minerals, especially calcium. The sweetener acts like MSG in the body. It makes you hungrier. These drinks also have a lot of fluorides in them that deplete the body of iodine and cause the thyroid gland to slow down the metabolism which sets you down a course towards hypothyroidism. More and more Americans are experiencing symptoms of thyroid related diseases. The sugar also causes the hypothalamus gland in the brain to direct the pancreas to secrete insulin to deal with the increase of sugar in the body. The problem is that there is no sugar and this leads to insulin resistance which drives the blood sugar down and causes the adrenals to fire as in a state of alarm and stress. The adrenals then produce cortisol which is the hormone that causes you to gain weight in your abdomen, and acts as a stress hormone, which then increases your energy level giving you the assumption that you have more energy now. The problem is that your body is in a state of stress and is trying to work hard to compensate.
People with a lot of risk factors for vascular disease can help by reducing their consumption of diet sodas. These risk factors include high blood pressure, diabetes, high cholesterol, smoking, a family history of cardiovascular disease, and metabolic syndrome.
We as clinicians have a duty to advise patients and consumers on the basis of this information, and suggest healthier alternatives concentrating on healthier diets and exercise.