Are Diet Sodas Healthy?

"They may be free of calories but not of consequences." - Professor Helen Hazuda speaking on diet soda.

After knocking the wind out of my mates sails regarding his healthy fruit salad and apple juice, the next topic that came up on the radar was his diet soft drink. You see, the next logical step for my friend to take whilst on his weight loss plan was to be drinking the 'diet' stuff instead of 'normal' stuff.

I mean, if a soft drink has the word 'diet', 'sugar free' or 'low cal' etc... It's got to be healthy for you right?

His new found enthusiasm for his health and weight loss plan had already taken a dent regarding fruit and sugar, so I understood the switch to sugar free soft drinks. After he finished guzzling down his cold can on a sunny day I said one word to him... Aspartame.

In a nutshell, this was my response...

THE REAL THING?

I'm a big believer that the answer lays within the questions we ask ourselves. Ask a better question and you usually get a better answer. So the questions I asked my friend was this...

Did you know that your zero calorie, sugar free, diet soft drink that you've just guzzled, contains an artificial sweetener called aspartame?

Aspartame is a chemical that is used as an artificial sweetener (more on this in a sec')... Now here's a real kicker of a question you need to ask yourself -

Did you know that there is no evidence to suggest that using artificial sweeteners like aspartame helps anyone lose weight?

In fact, there's compelling evidence that the use of aspartame and artificial sweeteners contribute to weight gain. Hello!!!

A 10 year study by researchers at the University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio showed that those who drank two or more diet sodas a day had a 500% greater increase in waist size!

Now something to seriously think about is this - Your waist line is a powerful indicator of a build-up of visceral fat, a dangerous type of fat around your internal organs that is strongly linked with type 2 diabetes and heart disease. I believe your waistline is a much better indicator of heart risks than BMI (body mass index).

So do you think a diet soft drink is really worth drinking if it actually increases your waistline?

And to add insult to injury, there are compelling studies that it's very detrimental to your health too.

Even if you are a skeptic, did you know the approval of the artificial sweetener aspartame (E951) is the most contested in FDA history? Why is this?

As he stared at his empty can he just finished guzzling, I thought I'd pitch him one more question just to make him feel extra special!

If you are genuinely trying to improve your health, aren't you better off avoiding diet soft drinks and aspartame - especially if safety concerns exist?

After grilling my mate with questions, I went on to explain a little more about artificial sweeteners and aspartame.