Diet Soda is Not Equal to Zero Weight Gain!

It is not news that today we are grappling with the challenges of excessive weight gain. With growing sensitization regarding dietary modifications to beat weight gain, the big companies in the soft drinks industry were quick to provide a quick fix. They provided alternatives in the form of diet soda- a soft drink that has no sugar. Pepsi called theirs Patio Soda, and Coca-Cola named theirs Coca-Cola Zero. And many other companies followed a similar trend. The invention of diet sodas wasn’t that bad. A 100ml of the regular coke soft drink has 39 calories while 100ml of its equivalent diet soda has just 1 calorie. To put this in the context of the weight-gaining process, a woman requires about 2000 calories in a day to maintain her weight while a man needs 2500 calories in a day. Consuming more calories above those stated above for the respective sex results in weight gain. For a man to gain weight if they were to just consume soda alone the entire day, it would take consuming more than 6,410 milliliters. Massive, right? But combined with other meals, a daily intake of regular soda can result in weight gain when the calories cumulatively go above those cut-off calories per day for each sex.

An interesting finding from trials done on rats noted that even diet soda despite having hardly any calories results in weight gain. This finding was consistent with the intake of carbonated soda. Tap water and degassed carbonated beverages showed little effect on weight gain among the study subjects. The obesogenic effect of fizzy drinks emanates from their ability to stimulate the production of a hormone in the body called Ghrelin.

Ghrelin and Its Role in Weight Gain

Ghrelin is renowned as the hunger hormone. As you can imagine from its name, its primary role is the stimulation of appetite and feeding behavior. When you feel hungry and want to gulp down that cake in your refrigerator, ghrelin is at work. The more ghrelin you have, the more your urge to eat more food gets. And that is one way that carbonated soda indirectly contributes to your weight gain.

But the most significant effect of ghrelin is its effect on fat deposition. High ghrelin levels in the body promote fat tissue accumulation by reducing lipid metabolism in the body. Even when your body wants to break down the excess fat when it is low in energy, ghrelin will prevent adequate fat utilization. And so, your fat levels will keep growing to unwanted levels.

Recommendation

It would seem that even as more things keep changing, the more they remain the same. Regular soda or diet soda, the end game is weight gain. These companies are not going to stop carbonating their soft drinks any time soon because that is their best way to preserve them. And yet the population will continue believing that diet soda equals zero weight gain. In this case, the ball stops with you and me. Cut down on your soft drink usage! Sugar is bad. Carbonation of beverages is no better. But water will always be King!

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