Huffington Magazine Issue 41 | Page 29

Voices What the Food and Diet Industry Doesn’t Want You to Know Diet Soda and Diet Drinks Make You Fat and Cause Type 2 Diabetes If losing weight were all about the calories, then consuming diet drinks would seem like a good idea. That’s certainly what CocaCola wants us to believe in their new ad highlighting their efforts to fight obesity. They proudly promote the fact that they have 180 low- or no-calorie drinks and that they cut sugared drinks in schools by 90 percent. Is that a good thing? In fact, it may be worse than having us all drink regular Coke (and the other food giants making diet drinks also push the same propaganda). A new 14-year study of 66,118 women (supported by many other previous studies) found that the opposite seems to be true. Diet drinks may be worse than sugar-sweetened drinks, which are worse than fruit juices (but only fresh-squeezed fruit juices). The study, published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, discovered some frightening facts that should make us all MARK HYMAN HUFFINGTON 03.24.13 swear off diet drinks and products. Diet sodas raised the risk of diabetes more than sugar-sweetened sodas! Women who drank one 12-ounce diet soda had a 33 percent increased risk of Type 2 diabetes, and women who drank one 20-ounce soda had a 66 percent increased risk. The average diet soda drinker consumes three diet drinks a day. Artificial sweeteners are hundreds to thousands of times sweeter than regular sugar, activating our genetically-programmed preference for sweet taste more than any other substance.” Diet drinks may be even worse than regular sugar-sweetened sodas! How does that happen? Artificial sweeteners are hundreds to thousands of times sweeter than regular sugar, activating our genetically-programmed preference for sweet taste more than any other substance. They trick your metabolism into thinking sugar is on its way. This causes your body to pump out in-