Diet Sodas Cause Weight Gain

New research has shown that diet sodas - instead of helping you lose weight - can actually cause weight gain.

And not by a little either – 30 to 40% more. This effect is not only related to diet sodas, but also applies to other artificially sweetened products as well.

Not only that, but the research also points to higher rates of metabolic syndrome and heart problems related to drinking as little as one can of diet soda daily.

It turns out that those who drink diet sodas and eat artificially sweetened products – and there are many – may also experience important changes to their brain chemistry.

Artificial sweeteners have long been controversial. The FDA has approved them, but many experience serious health problems that seem to go away when these artificial ingredients are removed from their diet. One family of sweeteners – Cyclamates – has been banned due to its carcinogenic properties.

I’m one of those people. I used CLight for almost a year. This aspartame laced beverage powder caused me serious headaches and I couldn’t seem to find the cause. I stopped drinking the Clight and my headaches disappeared – hardly scientific, but it worked. Sucralose affects me the same way.

The Internet is packed with web sites created by people who have also suffered serious health problems and many of my friend’s experience similar side effects to aspartame in particular.

These recent studies which appeared on CBS news were done on rats. The principal researcher noted that the rats suffered serious health problems and actual changes to the physical structure of the brain not dissimilar to addiction.

They claimed one of the principal problems for the rats was not so much the sweetener, but their body’s reaction to anticipated high calorie sugar. The rats, upon tasting the aspartame, revved up their metabolism to handle the charge of calories which never came. Since they were not sated, they continued to drink or eat to excess looking to fill the void.

A recent study on rats by Italian researchers found that:

Formaldehyde is used to preserve corpses, by the way. Interestingly, The European Union has decided to ban formaldehyde because of its carcinogenic properties – even for use on cadavers.

When aspartame is ingested with carbohydrates - like having a hamburger and fries with a diet drink, aspartame causes the brain to cease production of serotonin – the chemical that makes you feel sated - meaning that the feeling of having had enough never arrives. You then eat more food, possibly containing aspartame, which leads to a vicious cycle.