Is it true that sugar soda is a healthier alternative to ordinary?

Sharped carbonated drinks without sugar are considered dietary, they supposedly do not contribute to weight gain and do not harm health. We decided to check if this is so.

The fact that soda without sugar is more useful than usual. Sellers And Manufacturers these drinks. Such statements can be found on some sitesdedicated to diets, in glossy magazines, blogs on "Yandex.Zen". Hollywood actor Matthew McConahi, who, for the role of the role in the film "Dallas Club of Buyers", had to drop more than 20 kg, told In an interview that an important part of his diet was a stake without sugar.

In recent decades nutritionists regularly remindthat sugar is harmful, it is addictive (we already They wrote About this), leads to obesity, problems with skin and teeth, increases the risk of cardiovascular diseases. And many food manufacturers, not wanting to lose customers, Started Replace sugar with artificial sweeteners, claiming that this is a much more healthy and useful alternative.

Carbonated drinks marked as Light, Diet or Zero, indeed they do not contain either calories or carbohydrates. It would be logical to assume that they can be drunk without harm to health and figure - this is where marketer insists. But many scientists do not agree with them.

Spent in the USA study It showed that the use of drinks containing sugar -substitutes increases the risk of strokes and the development of dementia by almost three times. Researchers did not reveal such a relationship with drinks sweetened sugar. Scientists from Texas University found outthat daily use of dietary soda significantly increases the risk of developing metabolic syndrome and diabetes of the second type (although it is still twice as lowerthan when using ordinary sweet soda with the same frequency).

Scientists and doctors for no first decade Study The influence of sugar -substitutes (including in soda) on control and weight loss. Many of them We came to the conclusionthat dietary drinks do not bring any significant benefit for these purposes. On the contrary, they can even help increase the body mass index. However, the researchers emphasize before putting an end to this issue, it is worth studying it additionally.

Quite fresh study 2021, conducted by scientists from the University of Southern California, and even indicates that drinks with sucrotor of sucklose, although they do not contain calories, cause a part of the subjects an increase in appetite and increasing the sense of hunger. Such a pattern was manifested in people with excess weight and women. Moreover, these results were confirmed both by magnetic resonance tomography (the subjects showed images of food and recorded nerve impulses in the brain) and the analysis of hormones (those that were responsible for the feeling of saturation were lowered, and those that were, on the contrary, were increased). In the future, this can lead to overeating, disruptions in the diet and, accordingly, weight gain. 

Another group of scientists found outthat people who use low -calorie soda are 53% more prone to abdominal obesity (fat deposits in the abdomen) than those who avoid it. The waist of such people on average was 2.6 cm more in girth. 

Australian scientists also We came to the conclusionthat carbonated drinks with sugar -substitutes increase appetite and contribute to the consumption of more calories. This is due to the fact that our brain connects the sweet taste with the receipt of the energy that carbohydrates give. If the balance between the consumption of sweets and energy is disturbed, the brain sends signals that this needs to be compensated by something else. Experiments on fruit flies showed that after only a week of regular consumption of sugar -substitutes, insects began to eat 30% more calories than when they were given food with natural sweeteners. The same effect was observed with experiments on mice. True, some researchers They think, What Experiments In public, this is not confirmed by convincing evidence that the conclusions obtained are fair for humans. 

British epidemiologist and scientific writer Tim Spector, author of the book “Myths of Diets”, dedicated the whole chapter How sucroting affects our body. Having conducted his own research and systematizing existing ones, he also came to the conclusion that artificial sweeteners can contribute to the development of diabetes of the second type, obesity, digestive disorders, etc. The spector also notes that, replacing sugar with an antibacterial effect, manufacturers often add chemical preservatives to products. And their influence on metabolism is poorly studied. This, of course, does not concern soda, in which there is nothing to preserve especially, but sucrice adds not only to it.

In addition, artificial sweeteners, as well as sugar, contribute increasing blood pressure - in this sense of a special difference between them, scientists Not revealed.

Norwegian And Danish Researchers found that in pregnant women who regularly drink sweet soda (no matter with sugar or its substitutes), the risk of premature birth increases by almost one and a half times. At the same time, the reasons for this effect are not explained in any of their studies.

Despite the fact that there are no sugar in non -core drinking drinks - one of the main causes of caries - they are as harmful to the teeth as the rest. Scientists found outthat there is no difference between the influence of these two types of drinks on the health of the teeth: both increase the acidity in the mouth, which ultimately leads to the destruction of enamel and caries. With them agree and experts of the manufacturer of funds for the hygiene of the COLGATE oral cavity. They note that dietary drinks contain several more types of acids (for example, citric and wine), and this is another blow to the enamel.

Thus, carbonated drinks without sugar containing artificial sweeteners cannot be called a healthy alternative to anything, since the negative effects exerted on the human body are similar to those that in sugar -containing drinks. The data that such soda can help lose weight is also quite contradictory: some scientists believe that it, on the contrary, contributes to a set of excess weight, that is, even more harmful than usual.

Most of the untruth

What do our verdicts mean?

Read on the topic:

1. Tim Spector. Myths about diets. The science of what we eat
2. Is it true that if there is a lot of sweets, diabetes will develop?
3. Is it true that brown sugar is more useful than white?