Diet drinks seem like a simple alternative to drinking sodas containing real sugar, but they can cause a set of health issues of their own, namely:
Kidney Problems
According to a research done by Harvard Medical School, diet soda may be bad for your kidneys. In their study of more than 3,000 women over the course of 11 years, many exhibited twice the risk of kidney decline as those who did not drink diet soda or soda containing real sugar.
Overworked Metabolism
Drinking one diet soda per day increases your risk by 34% for a condition called metabolic syndrome. That was the result found by a University of Minnesota study of 10,000 adults. Metabolic syndrome is a group of symptoms that include increased belly fat and high cholesterol that increases your risk of heart disease.
Obesity
One of the primary reasons people drink diet soda is to reduce the number of calories they consume as part of their effort to lose weight. But drinking two or more diet sodas per day can increase your waistline by a whopping 500%.
The reason is artificial sweeteners confuses the body into thinking it is consuming real sugar. But, in the end, they make you hungrier so you eat more than you should and your body stores the excess calories you don’t need as fat.
Hangover
Your rum and Cokes made with Diet Coke can lead to a worse hangover in the morning than if you would have had real Coke. The reason? Sugar-free soda allows the liquor to enter your bloodstream quicker because your body does not have any sugar to process first.
Allergies
Diet sodas contain a preservative used as a mold inhibitor. Usually in the form of either sodium or potassium benzoate, it can alter the DNA in the mitochondria making it ineffective. This can lead to a number of health issues including asthma, hives and other allergic conditions.
Rotting Teeth
At 3.2 pH, diet soda is very acidic and it is the acid that dissolves tooth enamel. Drinking three diet sodas per day leads to greater decay, more missing teeth and fillings.
Reproductive Issues
All soda cans are coated with an endocrine disrupter called bisphenol A (BPA). Studies have shown this chemical can cause fertility problems.
Heart Disease
Both the University of Miami and Columbia University found that just drinking one diet soda per day increases your risk for a heart-related event by 43%. Regular soda drinkers in the study did not experience an increased risk.
While diet drinks seem like a good idea, they are not. The health issues associated with drinking diet soda just isn’t worth the risk.
