Maybe you've finally kicked your regular soda habit, or maybe you’re a child of the 1990s, and diet sodas have been the only game in town all your life. Either way, if you find yourself reaching for diet soft drinks on a regular basis, you’ve probably wondered what exactly you’re putting in your body, and how it compares to the sugary stuff. Soft drink companies have long pitched diet sodas as a healthy alternative to their full-sugar drinks, but that’s not medically accurate. While diet soda is low in calories and sugar, it lacks nutrients and contains artificial sweeteners, some of which have been associated with negative health effects, but research is mixed. Diet soda may seem like a healthy and refreshing alternative to sugary soft drinks. However, it may not be quite as harmless as it seems, especially if you’re drinking several servings per day. This article explores the potential health effects of diet soda consumption for men, examining the available research and offering strategies for reducing intake.
The Problem with Diet Soda: An Overview
Registered dietitian Susan Campbell, RD, LD, says that switching from regular to diet soda may offer a short-term cut in calories, but your body won’t be fooled for long. Research suggests that your body reacts to certain nonnutritive foods, including the artificial sweeteners in diet soda, in ways that may actually harm your health. Although low in calories and sugar, diet soda has no nutritional value. It also contains artificial sweeteners that have been linked to adverse health effects.
Potential Side Effects of Diet Soda
Here are some possible side effects of diet soda:
Gut Microbiome Disruption
The artificial sweeteners found in diet soda might negatively affect your gut microbiome, which is the community of beneficial bacteria in your digestive tract. According to researchers, the gut microbiome plays a key role in many aspects of health, including immune function, nutrient absorption, heart health, and more. Aspartame is one of the most common nonnutritive sweeteners in diet soda. One in vitro study of 13 individuals found that aspartame decreased production of Isobutyric acid, a type of short-chain fatty acid. Short-chain fatty acids play a role in preventing inflammatory diseases and regulating body weight. However, more studies are needed to understand how artificial sweeteners and diet soda may affect gut health in humans.
Dental Health Concerns
Although diet soda doesn’t contain sugar like regular soda, it’s still highly acidic. adults, but further research is needed. However, damage to dental enamel from acidity is not the same thing as an increased risk of cavities due to sugar content. A 2020 study found that diet soda did not promote dental cavities among children.
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Headaches
For some people, drinking multiple servings of diet soda per day could cause headaches. This may be due to certain artificial sweeteners found in diet soda, such as aspartame. One review noted that aspartame caused symptoms like headaches and migraines in those who took aspartame pills, particularly in those with neurological or psychiatric conditions. However, the review notes that some of the studies used aspartame pills, which release more aspartame into the body than you would get from drinking it in liquid form. Some studies have also found that caffeine, which is present in some diet sodas, could cause headaches for a small percentage of people.
Bone Health
Diet soda contains several compounds that may negatively affect bone health and lead to bone loss. One study found that excessive caffeine intake can negatively affect bone health. Another study found that excessive phosphoric acid consumption could lead to the same thing.
Cardiovascular Issues
One 2021 study found that regularly consuming artificial alternative sweeteners, which are present in diet soda, is associated with a risk of developing cardiovascular complications. This includes glucose intolerance and type 2 diabetes. Another study found that consumption of these sweeteners is associated with an increased risk of metabolic syndrome. Metabolic syndrome is a group of factors that, if left untreated, may increase the likelihood of developing heart disease.
Increased Cravings and Hunger
Some research suggests that the artificial sweeteners found in diet soda may have the same effect on the food reward pathway in the brain as regular sugar. One study found that it can make food more palatable. This could lead to increased hunger and food intake. Additionally, because artificial sweeteners are significantly sweeter than regular sugar, researchers have suggested they might increase sugar cravings and dependence, making it much harder to reduce your intake. Nevertheless, research on this topic is mixed. Additional studies on diet soda and sugar cravings are needed.
Weight Gain
Scientists have found mixed results on whether drinking diet soda is associated with weight gain. One study found that habitual, long-term diet soda consumption was linked to increased body fat, including visceral fat.
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The Link Between Diet Soda and Weight Gain
Some research suggests that your brain reacts to artificial sweeteners much like it does to sugary sweets. Ingesting them frequently may increase your desire for high-calorie foods, putting you at a greater risk of weight gain. Another study found that people with overweight or obesity who switched to diet soda were likely to consume more calories in food than people with overweight or obesity who drank regular soda. In fact, those who drank diet soda had a higher BMI than their counterparts.
Diet Soda and Insulin Confusion
Your brain normally associates “sweet” with calories. In the realm of human physiology, that’s a good thing. It drives your body to release insulin as sugar’s chaperone to the cells to create fuel. In the past, people assumed this process couldn’t occur when we consumed artificial sweeteners because calories don’t follow the sweet flavor. But one study found the process could very well happen anyway. In the study, individuals who consumed a specific artificial sweetener (sucralose) had increases in both insulin and blood glucose levels. Frequent rises in insulin have been linked to insulin resistance and an increased risk of Type 2 diabetes.
Diet Soda's Impact on the Brain's Reaction to Sweetness
Some research also suggests that those who drink diet soda have higher activity in the area of the brain associated with the desire to consume foods high in fat and sugar. Drinking diet soda seems to alter your brain’s sweet-sensing reward center. This means diet soda could potentially change how your brain reacts to cravings for high-calorie foods.
Kicking the Diet Soda Habit: Practical Strategies
Quitting a habit is never easy, and soda of all types can be addictive. There are plenty of simple steps you can take to decrease your intake of diet soda.
Explore Healthier Alternatives
Start by slowly swapping it for other drinks in your diet. Here are a few alternative drinks to consider:
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- Flavored water
- Herbal tea
- Coconut water
- Seltzer water
- Kombucha
Look for versions of these drinks that either are unsweetened or have a lower sugar content. You can also try adding a splash of juice to water or seltzer. You can make flavored water by adding cucumber slices, fresh or frozen fruit, herbs like basil and mint, or citrus fruits like lime or lemon to plain or sparkling water for a hint of flavor without added sugar.
Lifestyle Adjustments
It may also help to buy less soda when you go grocery shopping and stock up on healthy alternatives instead. This will make it much easier to reach for a different drink in place of diet soda when you feel thirsty. Finally, it may be easier to gradually decrease your diet soda consumption instead of cutting it out all at once. Reducing the amount of diet soda that you drink each week to make long-lasting, sustainable changes may be easier to stick with over time.
Addressing Specific Cravings
Flavor, caffeine, carbonation: Diet sodas bring a lot to the table. The good news is you can find all of those things in healthier beverages, too!
- Get your caffeine somewhere else. If you crave caffeine (in moderation), you’re likely better off with plain coffee or tea. Just don’t load them up with cream and sugar!
- Add natural flavor to your drinks. If flavor is what made diet soda your drink of choice, try freezing raspberries, cucumber, mint, lemon or lime in ice cubes to add a hint of sweetness.
- Carbonation is key. Many diet soda drinkers relish the carbonation of soda even more than the sweetness. If that’s you, try putting fruit in seltzer or sparkling water to recreate soda’s bubbly appeal. There are also many flavored seltzers and sparkling waters on the market that work well as a diet soda alternative.
- Try new things. There are a lot of alternative beverages out there. Have you tried kombucha? Coconut water? You can even get carbonated apple cider vinegar drinks these days! Just make sure you review the ingredients before you raise a toast to your new, soda-free life.
Further Lifestyle Changes
- Avoid getting too hungry. Are you the type to skip breakfast? Do you stick to three square meals a day? That’s not setting you up for success because it makes you more likely to crave something sweet during the day.
- Distract yourself. If you’re suddenly struck with the urge to grab a soda, respond by doing something that isn’t drinking soda. Drink a glass of water: It’s possible you’re just thirsty. Take a 10-minute walk. Call that friend you keep meaning to catch up with. Chances are, that craving’s going to drift to the back of your mind, and eventually disappear.
- Plan accordingly. Make sure you bring a soda alternative with you to the neighborhood barbecue. Have cold water or iced tea waiting for you in the fridge, so it’s easier to make a healthy choice at the end of a busy day. Anticipating cravings and planning ahead can make confronting them less taxing.