Diet Soda Can Hamper Weight Loss

Aspartame is one of the most commonly used artificial sweeteners on the market and is what makes popular diet sodas like Diet Coke and Diet Pepsi taste sweet. Aspartame is so valuable that when Diet Pepsi replaced aspartame due to purported cancer risk, with two other artificial sweeteners, sales of Diet Pepsi plummeted.  After less and 12 months Pepsi returned to its original formulation.

Pepsi may want to reconsider. In a new scientific study at Massachusetts General Hospital scientists found a possible reason why drinking diet sodas may promote, and not prevent, weight loss in consumers trying to drop a few pounds.

A 2016 Harvard Medical School study, led by Dr. Richard Hodin, showed that aspartame, which is broken down into an amino acid (phenylalanine) blocks the effect of an important intestinal enzyme called IAP.  By blocking the enzyme, aspartame caused problems like high blood pressure, high blood sugar, excess body fat, and abnormal cholesterol levels in mice.

In Dr. Hodin’s research mice were fed a high-fat diet and water with or without aspartame. The mice fed a high-faT diet and aspartame had less IAP and gained weight. They also had high blood glucose levels and heightened body-wide inflammation levels.

The current opinion of the FDA is that artificial sweeteners are “safe” but should be used in moderation.  However, this study shows that Aspartame, contrary to aiding weight loss, can actively promote, the most important effects it is supposed to prevent.

So the bottom line is until the food industry comes up with a sweetener that does not adversely affect us or our gut bacteria, my advice would be to reduce diet soda consumption, switch to an aspartame-free flavored water. Or go back to drinking the original diet soda -Tab.