Will drinking diet cola make you fat?

Due to their natural love for sweetness, people generally like to drink sweet drinks. But sugary sweet drinks are too energetic, and many studies believe that sugary drinks can increase the risk of obesity, diabetes, etc. At this time, a sugar-free sweet drink began to enter our vision, that is, diet drinks. For example, Coke Zero, Diet Coke, sugar-free tea drinks, etc. are common on the market. This drink still tastes sweet and refreshing, but it does not contain sugar, so it does not contain energy. Because it does not contain energy, it has become popular in recent years among obese people and people who want to control their weight. According to U.S. survey data, in 1965, only 3% of people drank sugar-free drinks, while by 2010, 20% of people drank sugar-free drinks.

Why are sugar-free drinks sweet?

Why are sugar-free drinks sweet? The secret lies in the sweetener used. Sweeteners are substances that provide sweetness, but do not include sugar and other carbohydrates or polyhydric alcohols. Commonly used sweeteners include natural stevia, synthetic saccharin, acesulfame, aspartame, sodium cyclamate, etc. For example, the recently popular Coke Zero, its sweetness mainly comes from aspartame or sucralose. Aspartame and sodium cyclamate contain almost no calories, so the calories in the entire drink can be ignored. A major feature of sweeteners is that they do not provide any energy, but only provide sweet taste. Compared with the high calories of traditional sweet drinks, they are naturally welcomed by modern people who have excessive nutrients, especially those who consume too much calories.

Are sweeteners safe?

At present, the sweeteners allowed to be used in my country are subject to strict safety assessments. The Codex Committee on Food Additives (JECFA) of the World Health Organization and the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations assessed that as long as these sweeteners are not consumed in excess, they will not be harmful to the human body, nor will they cause fetal malformations or cancer. Pregnant women and children can eat them with confidence.

my country also has strict limit regulations on the use of sweeteners, and as long as they are used legally, they can be considered safe. For example, the safety standard for sodium cyclamate established by JECFA is no more than 11 mg per kilogram of body weight per day. That is to say, for an adult weighing 60 kkg, it must not exceed 660 mg per day. The safety standard for saccharin is no more than 5 mg per kilogram of body weight per day. This is equivalent to a 60-kilogram person eating 300 mg a day. The sweetness of 660 mg of sodium cyclamate is equivalent to 330 grams of sucrose, and the sweetness of 300 mg of saccharin is equivalent to 90 - 150 grams of sucrose. As far as the average person is concerned, it is difficult to eat so many sweets every day, and occasionally a bottle of drink will not exceed it.

Will drinking diet cola make you fat?

Since sugar-free sweet drinks do not contain energy, drinking them will not increase energy intake. Is it good for weight loss and weight control? However, reality is not as simple as people think. There are many factors that affect weight. At present, it mainly depends on whether energy intake and consumption are balanced. Only when energy consumption is greater than energy intake can weight loss be achieved.

In animal studies, it has been found that drinking sweetened drinks makes mice unaware of how much they have eaten, leading to overeating and becoming obese. This makes people wonder whether the same will happen for humans drinking sugar-free drinks.

Similar phenomena have been observed in population studies. Researchers at the University of Texas followed more than 6000 people for seven years and found that those who regularly drank sugar-free drinks were more likely to gain weight. This seems to contradict people's speculation. What is the reason?

There is speculation that although these sweeteners have no energy, their sweet effect can interfere with human metabolism and increase people's appetite. Although drinking sugar-free drinks can reduce some energy, it can easily make people eat other foods with more energy. Researchers at Johns Hopkins University analyzed survey data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey from 1999 to 2000 and found that people who are overweight and obese, although they drink sugar-free coke zero-type drinks, tend to eat more other high-energy snacks, resulting in no weight loss or even gain. Just like many of us, who think that drinking energy-free drinks reduces the energy in the drinks, relax our vigilance about the energy of other foods and eat snacks without hesitation. As a result, our total energy intake is not controlled, and we will still gain weight.

There are also studies that believe that sweeteners will not affect weight at least in the short term, and a few studies believe that replacing sugary drinks in life with sugar-free drinks will help people lose weight. For example, a recent study concluded that cola zero is good for weight loss, but since the study was supported by the American Beverage Association, some scientists question the objectivity and credibility of the study.

At present, there is no evidence that there is a direct link between sugar-free drink use and weight. However, one point that can be reached is that if you want to control your weight, you still need to control your total energy intake. If you used to drink a lot of sugary drinks, but now you switch to sugar-free drinks and control other energy intake, this will help reduce total energy intake and may still be able to control your weight; However, if you drink sugar-free drinks but have no control over other high-energy foods, it will be difficult to lose weight. No matter what drink you drink, the key is to moderate it and not drink too much.