signalsDiet Sodas and Weight Gain? Yeah, Right!
January 23rd 2007 14:50
So, I'm sure most of you have seen the news articles floating around the Internet about a study showing that people who consume diet soda risk being more overweight. The more diet soda they drank, the more their risk increased. Doesn't make any sense, right?
Some hypotheses were that if you drink diet soda, you might eat more to compensate. All right, I can see that. After all, who hasn't gone into McDonalds and seen people ordering huge amounts of food - Quarter Pounders, large fries - "and a Diet Coke"? But it seems like the people analyzing it were surprised that it didn't make people LOSE weight. How is that a surprise? I would think that most people just drink it for the taste and their eating would not be affected.
Another idea was that when you drink something that tastes sweet, your body prepares itself for it and when it doesn' t get it, you still want something sweet - i.e. you get hungry. I personally drink Diet Pepsi all day - well, about 4 a day - and the only time I get hungry is when I haven't eaten. I steer clear of sugar at all costs, and I almost never crave it.
This study reminds me of something my professor told us about in my Abnormal Psych class. Apparently, in the summer, the incidence of crime is much higher - and so are ice cream sales. Two things, seemingly unrelated. When actually, it's that it's hot, which makes people cranky, and also makes them want to buy ice cream. It doesn't mean that one causes the other! Correlation without causation, I think is what he called it. Someone should tell this to the people who did the study. There could be 1,000 reasons why this is, and I'm sure there is a logical explanation.
So for now I'll go on drinking my Diet Pepsi. If someone can actually prove to me that it's going to make me gain weight, well, then I'll listen. Chalk the findings of this study up to not enough information.
Claire S.
Some hypotheses were that if you drink diet soda, you might eat more to compensate. All right, I can see that. After all, who hasn't gone into McDonalds and seen people ordering huge amounts of food - Quarter Pounders, large fries - "and a Diet Coke"? But it seems like the people analyzing it were surprised that it didn't make people LOSE weight. How is that a surprise? I would think that most people just drink it for the taste and their eating would not be affected.
This study reminds me of something my professor told us about in my Abnormal Psych class. Apparently, in the summer, the incidence of crime is much higher - and so are ice cream sales. Two things, seemingly unrelated. When actually, it's that it's hot, which makes people cranky, and also makes them want to buy ice cream. It doesn't mean that one causes the other! Correlation without causation, I think is what he called it. Someone should tell this to the people who did the study. There could be 1,000 reasons why this is, and I'm sure there is a logical explanation.
So for now I'll go on drinking my Diet Pepsi. If someone can actually prove to me that it's going to make me gain weight, well, then I'll listen. Chalk the findings of this study up to not enough information.
Claire S.
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Comment by JohnR
I read every day or so about the perils of sugar. To the extent to which diet drinks have kept me away from the poison of sugar and corn syrup, I am thankful they exist.