Will taking diet soft drink be a better choice?

In recent times, diet soft drink has become popular, then unpopular in our quest to lose fats. So, the question is, does taking diet soft drink help or hinder our efforts to lose weight?

As we all know, carbonated soft drinks contain an average of 150 calories in each can. If you consider that most meals should be around 500 – 800 calories (depending on which meal and what diet you are on), then you should be alarmed that a can of carbonated soft drink can account for more than 20% of your calorie intake per meal.

Most diet soft drinks tout ZERO calorie as their selling point. Some of course are “low calorie” instead of zero. This is good, right?

If we stick strictly to the calorie counting aspects of our diet, yes, this is good. Considering that carbonated soft drink contain caffeine, which is addictive, what about the diet versions?

Most diet soft drinks are targeted at the “health conscious” consumer. Hence, they usually tout “caffeine-free” as one of their selling points.

How then do these diet soft drinks taste so sweet if they do not contain the 9 spoons of sugar that give carbonated soft drinks the high calorie count?

Diet soft drinks use artificial sweeteners. One of the most common is aspartame. Since its approval for use in 1974, this artificial sweetener has been the subject of many controversies. But recent tests have shown that at current consumption levels, aspartame is safe as there is a large enough margin between what is consumed and what is considered harmful.

The other artificial sweetener that has recently gained approval is sucralose. This is supposed to be 600 times as sweet as sugar. It has been found that this has very little side effects and it has been approved for use recently. It has its share of side effects including enlarge thymus and some believe it a trigger for migraine.

Overall, it is better to break the habit of carbonated soft drinks, as this will achieve the same results (reduced calorie intake) without the unpredictable side effects of artificial sweeteners.