Video | Soda Study | Is Diet Soda Healthy?

Diet soda is not a healthy drink by any stretch of the imagination. However, a study involving more than a thousand participants showed that while drinking sugar-sweetened soda caused a significant increase in belly fat, drinking diet soda did not. After the six-year study period, diet soda consumption was not associated with belly fat gain. 

While there is a lot more to healthy living than a flat stomach, having more belly fat (aka visceral fat) is linked to insulin resistance and an increased risk of developing type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular disease, and more. Is diet soda the solution? We’ll explore the study and address that question in this blog post. 

Can Diet Soda Reduce Belly Fat Risk? [Video]

In this video, you’ll learn…

• The results of a six-year-long study on sugar-sweetened beverages.
• If diet soda is healthy or not.
• How you can utilize diet soda in your low-carb diet.

The Study

The study involved 1,003 middle-aged participants enrolled in the third generation of the Framingham Heart Study, which has been following the health of individuals and their offspring since the 1940s (1).

The participants provided information about their consumption of sugar-sweetened beverages and diet soda, as well as some general health factors like physical activity, dietary intake, and smoking history. 

The participants also underwent CT scans approximately six years apart to assess the amount of fat in their midsection, including subcutaneous fat, which is the fat under your skin that you can pinch, and visceral fat, which is deep abdominal fat that builds around the internal organs, pushing the belly out. 

Subcutaneous fat measurements did not significantly change throughout the study. However, they found that those who drank regular soda or other sugar-sweetened drinks daily gained 29 percent more visceral fat over the six years than non-consumers. Diet soda drinkers did not gain visceral fat.  

Is Diet Soda Healthy?

So, diet soda gets the green light, right? Unfortunately, diet soda is not a cure-all. While this study shows that drinking it did not contribute to belly fat gain, diet soda may have its own demons lurking in the background. 

If you read the ingredient list on the side of the bottle, you’ll find sweeteners, preservatives, artificial color, and acid to provide the familiar tartness you expect when you drink a soda. Yet despite the fact that it contains about eight ingredients, it adds no nutritional value to your diet. 

The health consequences of diet soda consumption are controversial and hard to pin down because most of the research comes from observational studies. So even though negative outcomes like increased risk of diabetes, high blood pressure, and heart disease have been associated with artificially sweetened drinks, that correlation does not confirm causation. 

Bottom Line

Daily consumption of regular sugar-sweetened soda is asking for trouble. Doing so invites a growing belly, which invites insulin resistance and chronic health conditions. 

To quit, first cut down on your consumption. In the study, those who drank the most regular soda faired the worst, so cutting back to one soda a week or making it a once-a-month treat will reduce the development of belly fat. 

If you can do that without turning to diet soda, you’ve taken the biggest step toward better health. However, if you need a crutch to lessen the discomfort of quitting, diet soda will not promote belly fat. Just keep in mind that the health consequences of diet soda are not fully understood, and it is filled with chemicals, so it is best to look at it as an occasional drink rather than a daily indulgence. 

Thank you for reading and have a wonderful week!

Reference:

(1) Ma, Jiantao, et al. “Sugar-sweetened beverage consumption is associated with change of visceral adipose tissue over 6 years of follow-up.” Circulation 133.4 (2016): 370-377.

About the Author

Becky Gillaspy, DC, is the author of The Intermittent Fasting Guide and Cookbook and Zero Sugar / One Month. She graduated Summa Cum Laude with research honors from Palmer College of Chiropractic in 1991.