Are Diet Soft Drinks Really Healthy For You?

What is the difference between sugar-sweetened soft drinks and artificially sweetened soft drinks? The truth about those diet soft drinks is not what most of us would believe. You might believe that soft drinks with tons of sugar will make you gain wait while those artificially sweetened drinks will make oyu lose weight. This might not be true. Surprisingly, Sugar-sweetened beverages, Dr. Susan Swithers tells us, don't necessarily lead to weight gain, and artificially sweetened soft drinks don't necessarily lead to weight loss.

Here are some of the highlights that Dr. Swithers has identified in the last 20 years of research:

1. The San Antonio Heart Study followed 3,682 young adults, the study asked the participants to come in for weighing 7 to 8 years after their graduation from their high school. The San Antonio Heart Study researchers found out that:

• Young adults who drank 1 or 2 diet soft drinks (or even no diet soft drinks at all) at all tended to gain weight, on average 1.04 units of BMI (body mass index, which takes both the height and weight of someone into account).

• Young adults who drank 3 to 10 diet soft drinks per week gained on average 1.46 units of BMI.

• Young adults who drank 11 to 22 diet soft drinks per week gained on average 1.50 units of BMI.

• Young adults who drank more than 22 diet soft drinks per week gained on average 1.78 units of BMI.

2. The Health Professionals Follow-Up Study followed 37,380 male participants for 22 years. The Men in the study who drank sugar-sweetened soft drinks were 9 percent more likely to develop high blood pressure than men who didn't drink any soft drinks at all. While men in the study who drank no-calorie soft drinks at all were 43 percent more likely to develop high blood pressure than the men who didn't drink any soft drinks at all.

3. The Nurses Health Study followed 88,540 female participants for 38 years. The Women in the study who drank 2 or more sugar-sweetened soft drinks were 28 percent more likely to develop heart disease than the women who didn't drink any soft drinks at all. Meanwhile, Women in the study who drank 2 or more artificially sweetened soft drinks were 93 percent more likely to develop heart disease than women who didn't drink any soft drinks at all.

4. Drinking sugar-free soft drinks also increased the risk of heart disease in men, although not as much. The Health Professionals Follow-Up Study found that men who consumed from 4-1/2 to (this is not a typo) 126 sugar-sweetened soft drinks per week were only 4% more likely to have heart disease than men who didn't drink any soft drinks at all. Men who consumed from 4-1/2 to 49 (the maximum reported in the study) sugar-free soft drinks per week were 21% more likely to have heart disease than men who didn't drink any soft drinks at all.