Why is Diet Soda Bad for Your Health?

11 years ago | Posted in: Health | 982 Views

Weight Gain

When you have the choice between diet soda and regular soda, diet is obviously the healthier choice, right? Not so fast. While it’s true that diet soda doesn’t have any calories, drinking this stuff can lead to some serious health problems down the road. Keep reading to find out why diet soda is bad for your health!

One major issue with diet soda is the fact that it messes with your metabolism. A 2008 study linked diet soda with a number of metabolic disorders, and in fact, raises the risk of these diseases by as much as 34%. In another study, people that drink more than two diet sodas per day were found at a greater risk for obesity. The most popular theory is that diet soda tricks your body into craving sugar that it never received, so you eat more food to compensate.

Cell Damage

One of the scariest things that diet soda contains is a mold inhibitor. Sodium benzoate or potassium benzoate is found in every can of diet soda, but not in most regular sodas. Mold inhibitors can cause severe damage to the DNA in your body’s cells or even destroy it completely! These chemicals have been linked to many allergic conditions, such as athsma. They also are both classified as mild irritants to the skin and eyes.

Tooth Enamel Damage

One of the worst things for your teeth is sugary soda, but diet soda is almost as bad. The pH value of diet soda is around 3.2, which is very acidic. If you drink multiple diet or regular sodas throughout the day, you’re at a higher risk for dental problems. Each drink strips away a small layer of tooth enamel that cannot be replaced.

Kidney Problems

Having a diet soda might save you some calories, but it could also damage your kidneys in the process. Researchers found that drinking two or more diet sodas per day is directly linked with a drop in kidney function. The effect appears to slowly build over time, with diet drinkers losing 30% or more of their kidney function over a 10 year period.

Bone Density Loss

Drinking diet soda has been linked to bone density loss for a number of different reasons. Part of the problem is that it contains phosphorus, which causes blood to become more acidic. Diet soda also contains caffeine, which increases urine output and therefore drains the body of calcium faster than normal. Lastly, diet soda is often used as a replacement for other calcium-rich foods, such as milk or yogurt. While taking calcium supplements would solve the problem, most people don’t get enough calcium in their diet in the first place.

Aspartame

Possibly the most controversial ingredient in diet soda is aspartame. This sugar substitute has been approved by the FDA despite the fact that there are 90 different documented symptoms resulting from consuming aspartame. Just a few of these side effects include:

  • Headaches
  • Dizziness
  • Nausea
  • Muscle spasms
  • Depression
  • Fatigue

It’s also been linked to a number of deadly diseases, including brain tumors, epilepsy, Alzheimer’s, and more. It makes a lot of sense when you consider that one of the main ingredients of aspartame is methanol, which is a form of alcohol that is poisonous to the human body.

Caffeine

Caffeine is a chemical that millions of people depend on to get through the day, but just how dangerous is it? This mild stimulant affects the body by keeping you awake when you’re tired while also providing a small boost in mood. Unfortunately, when the effect of caffeine wears off, you’ll probably feel even worse than when you started. High doses of caffeine can also cause insomnia, hallucinations, and high blood pressure. Caffeine is also a very addictive substance, which is why it’s so hard to stop drinking those cans of diet soda!

Determine Your Motivation

Soda isn’t classified as a drug, but it’s extremely easy to become addicted to its tasty, energy-boosting nature. Unfortunately, drinking soda just isn’t good for your health, so you should try to kick this habit as soon as possible.

The first step to ending your soda addiction is determining your motivation for quitting. The typical reasons include reducing sugar and caffeine intake, but you need to find your own reason. Here are a few more reasons you might not have thought of:

  • Saving money
  • Improving dental health
  • Helping the environment

Without proper motivation, it’s going to be even harder to stick to your guns when the cravings set in.

chacha.com

 

Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Share it.

Leave a Reply

Related Posts