Diet Pop Can Make Your Belly Grow, New Study

Do you order a diet pop because you want to save calories?

Well you may want to think again.

Diet soda, which has nearly no nutritional value, dangerously bloats waistlines and might boost blood-sugar levels, according to new studies.

People who drink diet soda experienced a 70 percent greater increase in waist circumference over a decade than non-users, a study by the University of Texas Health Science Center San Antonio found.

“The more diet sodas people drank, the more their waists grew,” researcher Sharon Fowler told the NY Post.

“For people who drink two or more diet sodas a day, their waist increase was five times those who drank no diet sodas — almost two inches.”

Wowsers!  Why?  Some scientists say that artificial sweeteners trigger the appetite, or inhibit brain cells that signal the feeling of being full.  Another study found that aspartame, a popular artificial sweetener, boosted blood-sugar levels.

Both studies were presented at a recent American Diabetes Association conference in San Diego.

Professor Helen Hazuda of the university’s Health Science Center said that beverages that contains artificial sweeteners may increase the cravings for sweets, deform appetite and can even damage the brain cells.

The study, which involved nearly 500 men and women, found that even ingesting small quantities of diet soda had these effects. The results showed that the waistlines of those who consumed diet drinks expanded 70 percent faster than those who eschewed them in favor of other beverages, including regular sodas.

Frequent users (defined as those who drink two or more cans a day) saw a 500 percent greater increase in girth, Hazuda said. Consumption of diet sodas also increased blood sugar levels over time.

The results remained the same even when other factors such as exercise, social class, education and smoking were factored in.