Weight Loss and Diet Soda

Did you see the headlines? New study says diet cola helps you slim down better than water! That’s the report of new research in the journal Obesity that found a group of dieters who drank diet sodas lost 13 pounds after 12 weeks, compared to a water-drinking group who lost only 9 pounds.

All participants in the study were regular diet soda drinkers beforehand, consuming at least three per week, so half the group actually had to change their drinking habits to water only. With the exception of their drinks, both diet soda and water groups had an identical diet and exercise program for the study period of 12 weeks. (This study was funded by the American Beverage Association.)

That doesn’t mean you can autmatically discount the study completely—maybe diet soda is more beneficial to your weight loss than water—but the reality is that the long-term effects of artificial sweeteners found in diet soda are still being explored when it comes to your weight loss.

It could be that diet soda does help you lose weight slightly faster than only drinking water, however, the study authors couldn't pinpoint the exact reason why. They did note that diet soda drinkers had lower hunger scores than water drinkers in the study, but the bigger question may be whether it's as effective as water over time.

“For our patients, we see people start to struggle with weight loss around 18 weeks,” says Kristin Kirkpatrick, MS, RD, manager of wellness nutrition services at the Cleveland Clinic Wellness Institute. “A bigger issue is not how we get people to lose weight but how to keep it off. And it’s something we haven’t been able to figure out.”

Researchers of the study say they will publish the results of a one-year follow-up—where results may look different.

“My fear is that this study will encourage people to avoid the real food choice—water—in favor of diet soda,” says Kirkpatrick. If you are starting a diet, it’s okay to transition from regular to diet soda for a couple of weeks before giving them up and moving to calorie-free choices like water, tea, and coffee. But it doesn’t give you the go-ahead to start drinking diet again—or if given the choice, choose Diet Coke over plain water.

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