Still Drinking Diet and Calorie-Free Drinks
Amongst many dieters, diet coke and calorie-free drinks remain a popular choice. After all, it's sugar and calorie-free, right? Yale University Researcher Qing Yang, advises not. In fact, his research suggests artificial sweeteners in calorie-free drinks may contribute to weight gain. While there are plenty of metabolical, psychological, and physiological explanations for the correlations, the one pattern we know too often is this: The sweet flavors of artificial sweeteners encourage the development of cravings for sweet things and increase sugar dependence. Constant exposures to sweet flavors are simply too effective in creating taste palates that prefer sweetness. Luckily, all stats show this is reversible. It has been done in both salt and fat. In studies, a systematic reduction in salt or fat over several weeks led to a reduction in cravings for those nutrients, says Yang.