#11 Diet soda
Moving on to a low-calorie beverage. For a while many nutritionists believed that diet soda was bad for weight loss, even though it’s almost calorie-free. That was because artificial sweeteners were believed to increase hunger along with sugar cravings.
But more recent data showed that some artificial sweeteners can actually be beneficial for weight loss.
For example, one study compared the effects of water and water sweetened with zero-calorie artificial sweeteners.
They aimed to see how each of these would influence weight loss over a 12 week period. They followed up for a full year to observe the participants’ weight trends. (11)
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The results showed that the sweetener group lost more fat and regained less of it back during maintenance. And in contrast to what you might expect, the sweetener group was less hungry overall during the diet and they had better dietary compliance. This showed that sweeteners could be an effective tool for weight loss and maintenance. (12)
But aside from weight loss, what about the effect that these sweeteners have on your health? Well in general, artificial sweeteners are not harmful as long as you don’t take in more than the maximum recommended amount, as shown by a wide range of studies. (13)
The only controlled studies that have been able to find side-effects, since these theories emerged, are studies on animals that would consume more sweetener than any sane person ever would, often going 100 or even more than 1,000 times above the maximum recommended daily amount.
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