We’ve posted in the past on how diet beverages have been shown in research to actually increase belly fat and complications for diabetes. Now there’s new research that suggests that drinking diet soda can be linked to these effects and also to weight gain.

As more and more consumers move away from sugary soft drinks, they turn to diet drinks thinking that artificially-sweetened beverages would help them lead healthier lives by controlling their weight and reducing their risk for diabetes and heart disease. The latest research is showing that this assumption does not appear to be the case.

Meghan Azad, a researcher at the University of Manitoba, reviewed dozens of studies about the long-term health effects of sugar substitutes, trying to see whether there was a prevailing trend on the health effects of diet beverages. He found that not only were artificial sweeteners suspect when it came to weight management, but people who drank them routinely had an increased body mass index and risk of developing cardiovascular disease.

His studies of the available research concluded that “non-nutritive” (artificial) sweeteners (are) significantly associated with modest long-term increases in body weight, BMI and waist circumference.”

Belly fat, or visceral fat, has been linked to a greater chance of cardiovascular disease, Type 2 diabetes and insulin resistance. High waist circumference is also one component of metabolic syndrome, a constellation of health risk factors that also includes high triglycerides, blood pressure and blood glucose.

Researchers have not yet agreed on why diet beverages cause these effects but one thing is clear. Syfo, made from purified water and naturally flavored with no sugar, artificial sweeteners, sodium, preservatives or other additives, is the sensible, tasty and healthy choice.

You can read more about Azad’s research in this Washington Post article.

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