Diet Soda Linked To Weight Gain Diet soda might not help you
stay trim after all, new research suggests. A study presented at
a American Diabetes Association meeting this week shows that
drinking diet soda is associated with a wider waist in humans.
And a second study shows that aspartame -- an artificial
sweetener in diet soda -- actually raises blood sugar in mice
prone to diabetes. "Data from this and other prospective studies
suggest that the promotion of diet sodas and artificial
sweeteners as healthy alternatives may be ill-advised," study
researcher Helen P. Hazuda, Ph.D., a professor and chief of
clinical epidemiology at the University of Texas Health Science
Center San Antonio's School of Medicine, said in a statement.
"They may be free of calories but not of consequences." In the
first study, researchers collected height, weight, waist
circumference and diet soda intake data from 474 elderly people
who participated in the San Antonio Longitudinal Study of Aging.
They were followed up an average of 9