You Could Gain Weight If You Drink Diet Soda, Study Says

If you drink diet soda, it’s supposed to help you lose weight, right? Not so fast. Exactly the opposite could be occurring in a phenomenon that some experts call a “paradoxical weight gain.”

Indeed, studies from the quarter-century-long, community-based epidemiological study conducted at the University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio, “paradoxically suggest that the more diet sodas a person drinks, the greater the chance that he or she will become overweight or obese,” according to an HSC press release.

“On average, for each diet soft drink our participants drank per day, they were 65 percent more likely to become overweight during the next seven to eight years, and 41 percent more likely to become obese,” said Sharon Fowler, M.P.H., faculty associate in the division of clinical epidemiology in the Health Science Center’s department of medicine. She presented the finding at the American Diabetes Association’s 65th Annual Scientific Sessions.

OK, I have a confession to make of a journalistic nature. Yes, I made this sound like hot new research. Let me be transparent here. The fact is that, while doing some fact checking for my upcoming book SUGAR SHOCK! — I’m in the midst of one of many long whirlwind weekend marathon work sessions I ran across this news release that I’d previously seen a year ago.

But, last June when when I first reported this, my blog was brand new — like 6 days old. So, naturally, it didn’t have much traffic. Thankfully, it’s grown considerably since then, and since I suspect that many of you have never heard of this mind-boggling study, I felt that it was my obligation to again bring this conclusion to your attention.

So, diet soda drinkers out there, beware! Read the fascinating press release and WebMD’s article to learn more.