I think the current answer is "we don't know". There haven't been many studies on the subject, but those that have been conducted seem to indicate that there may be a counter-intuitive link between diet soda and weight gain.
One observational study demonstrated a correlation between increased diet soda consumption and weight gain. Correlation isn't causation, of course, let alone an indicator of what mechanism may be behind it. For example, it is one thing if people are substituting regular soda for diet soda (that would be counter intuitive), but the result would make a lot more sense if people were drinking diet soda instead of water.
Possible causes for the effects observed include:
- Artificial sweeteners drive greater sugar cravings rather than satiate them, i.e. diet soda doesn't make you fat itself, but drives changes in diet that do.
- Artificial sweeteners directly damage metabolism, leading to subsequent weight gain.
A 2008 study, which controlled for diet, exercise and other factors, looked at a variety of factors which affected incidence of metabolic syndrome. A "Western style" diet was associated with an 18% increased risk, but diet soda came out on top with 34%.
Another study looked to control for eating habits, and found that participants people who consumed more artificial sweeteners gained more weight, but only an average of 2 lbs over the course of a year.
Lastly, a study on mice adds credence to the idea that artificial sweeteners themselves are the direct cause of weight gain. Rats were put into two groups, each of which has access to as much food as they liked. One group was given artificial sweeteners on top of this. This group ate the same as the control group (indicating that sweeteners don't induce cravings) but gained more weight.
So it would appear that diet soda doesn't boost appetite, but that artificial sweeteners themselves could induce weight gain through metabolic damage. But these are small, sparse studies (and one isn't even on humans!) so it is difficult to draw concrete conclusions.
One observational study demonstrated a correlation between increased diet soda consumption and weight gain. Correlation isn't causation, of course, let alone an indicator of what mechanism may be behind it. For example, it is one thing if people are substituting regular soda for diet soda (that would be counter intuitive), but the result would make a lot more sense if people were drinking diet soda instead of water.
Possible causes for the effects observed include:
- Artificial sweeteners drive greater sugar cravings rather than satiate them, i.e. diet soda doesn't make you fat itself, but drives changes in diet that do.
- Artificial sweeteners directly damage metabolism, leading to subsequent weight gain.
A 2008 study, which controlled for diet, exercise and other factors, looked at a variety of factors which affected incidence of metabolic syndrome. A "Western style" diet was associated with an 18% increased risk, but diet soda came out on top with 34%.
Another study looked to control for eating habits, and found that participants people who consumed more artificial sweeteners gained more weight, but only an average of 2 lbs over the course of a year.
Lastly, a study on mice adds credence to the idea that artificial sweeteners themselves are the direct cause of weight gain. Rats were put into two groups, each of which has access to as much food as they liked. One group was given artificial sweeteners on top of this. This group ate the same as the control group (indicating that sweeteners don't induce cravings) but gained more weight.
So it would appear that diet soda doesn't boost appetite, but that artificial sweeteners themselves could induce weight gain through metabolic damage. But these are small, sparse studies (and one isn't even on humans!) so it is difficult to draw concrete conclusions.
12 years
