Source: WebMD Health News
Drink More Diet Soda, Gain More Weight?
Overweight Risk Soars 41% With Each Daily Can of Diet Soft Drink
June 13, 2005 -- People who drink diet soft drinks don't lose weight. In
fact, they gain weight, a new study shows.
The findings come from eight years of data collected by Sharon P. Fowler,
MPH, and colleagues at the University of Texas Health Science Center, San
Antonio. Fowler reported the data at the annual meeting of the American
Diabetes Association in San Diego.
"What didn't surprise us was that total soft drink use was linked to
overweight and obesity," Fowler tells WebMD. "What was surprising was
when we looked at people only drinking diet soft drinks, their risk of obesity
was even higher."
In fact, when the researchers took a closer look at their data, they found
that nearly all the obesity risk from soft drinks came from diet sodas.
"There was a 41% increase in risk of being overweight for every can or
bottle of diet soft drink a person consumes each day," Fowler says.
More Diet Drinks, More Weight Gain
Fowler's team looked at seven to eight years of data on 1,550
Mexican-American and non-Hispanic white Americans aged 25 to 64. Of the 622
study participants who were of normal weight at the beginning of the study,
about a third became overweight or obese.
For regular soft-drink drinkers, the risk of becoming overweight or obese
was:
- 26% for up to 1/2 can each day
- 30.4% for 1/2 to one can each day
- 32.8% for 1 to 2 cans each day
- 47.2% for more than 2 cans each day.
For diet soft-drink drinkers, the risk of becoming overweight or obese
was:
- 36.5% for up to 1/2 can each day
- 37.5% for 1/2 to one can each day
- 54.5% for 1 to 2 cans each day
- 57.1% for more than 2 cans each day.
For each can of diet soft drink consumed each day, a person's risk of
obesity went up 41%.
Subscribe