Far from being a dieter’s dream, diet soda actually exposes drinkers to serious health risks.
Do you drink diet soda on a daily basis? You may think you’re doing yourself a favor by not taking in empty calories from regular soda. But unfortunately, diet soda has the potential to contribute to serious health problems. For a healthier option, swap your diet soda for water and enjoy these 8 health benefits.
Better Brain Health
Many diet sodas contain aspartame, an artificial sweetener that can alter brain chemicals and nerve signals. When you give up diet soda, you may find yourself experiencing greater mental clarity, enjoying better moods, and suffering fewer headaches.
Reduced Risk of Tooth Decay
Though diet sodas are sugar-free, they are still harmful to teeth due to their high acidity. This may put you at increased risk of tooth decay, and numerous studies have linked oral bacteria from tooth decay and gum disease with serious health conditions like Alzheimer’s, heart disease, and more.
Reduced Sugar Cravings
Because artificial sweeteners like aspartame are hundreds of times sweeter than sugar, drinking diet soda can actually make you have more sugar cravings. When people give up diet soda, they often find themselves making healthier eating choices as a result because they do not feel such strong cravings for sugar.
Decreased Fat Storage
You might think drinking calorie-free diet soda would help you lose weight. But the opposite is true: when you drink diet soda before eating, it primes the pancreas to release high amounts of the fat-storing hormone insulin. This means the calories you take in from food are more likely to stick around as fat. Each can of diet soda you drink per day can increase your risk of obesity by up to 40 percent.
Improved Kidney Function
Diet sodas tend to be full of chemical ingredients, many of which are not particularly good for you. Clearing these chemicals from your system will occupy a lot of your kidneys’ time. By giving up diet soda, you enable your kidneys to perform their normal functions of clearing toxins, stabilizing blood pressure, and absorbing minerals better.
Reduced Risk of Metabolic Syndrome
Metabolic syndrome is a group of risk factors for heart disease, stroke, and diabetes. Several observational studies have demonstrated a link between drinking diet soda and increased risk of metabolic syndrome symptoms like belly fat, high fasting glucose, high triglycerides, low HDL cholesterol, and elevated blood pressure.
Stronger Bones
Menopausal women are already at risk for osteoporosis, and research suggests that drinking diet soda may make matters worse. One study found that for each diet soda drunk per day, a postmenopausal woman’s risk of hip fracture increased by 14 percent.
Better Hormonal Balance
As previously mentioned, giving up diet soda will reduce unhealthy swings in the fat-storing hormone insulin. But that’s not all—many diet sodas come in bottles or cans that could contain BPA. Since BPA can bind to receptors intended for estrogen, testosterone, and thyroid, it can be extremely disruptive to your hormonal balance.
Since menopausal women are already at risk for many of the health problems we’ve discussed, drinking diet soda can be even more dangerous for you. Give it up or at least cut back on diet soda today! And don’t forget to ask Renew Woman™ about menopause treatments that can help support your overall health.