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Diet Soft Drinks May Not Be So Great For Weight Loss
WXIX TV (Fox Affiliate) ^ | 7/19/06

Posted on 07/20/2006 10:20:00 AM PDT by hispanarepublicana

(FOX NEWS) - Rabbi Marc Sack drank diet soft drinks, cycled about 70 miles a week, and limited sweets and he struggled with hunger, "a big issue for me was appetite control."

But when the weight wasn't coming off, he saw a dietitian who told him to stop the diet soda.

"that was a big surprise to me," said Sack. "I thought I was doing something great by only drinking diet coke, and she really caught me off guard with that one."

Jennifer Broder Katz is Rabbi Sack's food coach. She says artificial sweeteners like those found in diet sodas affect appetite for up to 12 hours, "it pushes us to overeat and then sneak that little extra candy or cookie later in the day." Katz added it increases the risk of being overweight

An American Diabetes Association presentation reported, over 1500 people were followed for up to 8 years. For every diet soda the participants drank, they were 65 percent more likely to become overweight and 41 percent more likely to become obese.

Even more shocking is that those numbers were worse than those who drank regular soda.

Katz said, "all my patients come back to me and ask oh my god how did i just lose 10 pounds? And soon as he stopped drinking the diet soda the weight started to fall."

Something that wasn't quite that easy for Rabbi Sack, "that was a hard thing for me to give up, I was drinking a few diet cokes a day." Now he's drinking water instead.

"I did not that gnawing feeling in the late afternoon or at 5 oclock when i was just waiting for dinner -- it made a big difference," said Sack. A difference for him of 25 pounds.

Story courtesy of FOX NEWS

Web produced by: Cliff Jenkins


TOPICS: Health/Medicine
KEYWORDS: dietsoda; weight; weightloss
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To: Spiff

Did you find a treadmill with a dedicated Free Republic portal, or what?
We FReepers would be thin as spaghetti if Jim Robinson would market such a thing.


21 posted on 07/20/2006 11:53:55 AM PDT by hispanarepublicana (Don't fall for the soft bigotry of assuming all Hispanics are pro-amnesty. www.dontspeakforme.org)
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To: hispanarepublicana
Did you find a treadmill with a dedicated Free Republic portal, or what? We FReepers would be thin as spaghetti if Jim Robinson would market such a thing.

Actually, I do much of my morning FReeping on the treadmill. I purchased a treamill that has a "media tray" - you know, the place where you put a book or magazine - that was actually intentionally designed to hold a laptop computer. WiFi, Laptop, treadmill, fan, water, Fox News, air conditioning. Hey, it works. I don't do much typing while I'm on the treadmill, but I do a lot of reading through the threads and such.

22 posted on 07/20/2006 11:56:08 AM PDT by Spiff ("They start yelling, 'Murderer!' 'Traitor!' They call me by name." - Gael Murphy, Code Pink leader)
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To: hispanarepublicana

LOL...no kidding! That would be perfect! :-)


23 posted on 07/20/2006 11:57:20 AM PDT by B Knotts (Newt '08!)
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To: Mase
Diet drinks don't make people fat. Consuming more calories than you burn increases your weight.

This is true, and the article doesn't contradict that. But the gist of the thesis here is (and I've read articles over the years about other studies which also suggest this) is that artificial sweeteners actually seem to make folks crave more real sugar in greater quantities, than folks who drink the reg. sugar stuff, so they're actually more likely to succumb to the temptation of the snickers bar or oreo more often than other people. In other words, the fake stuff might be doing a number on the messages going to the brain. What nutritional analysts have been suggesting is that folks wishing to drop a few lbs cut out the sugar-free drinks (w/o going for full sugar carbonated ones) and see what happens.It really has worked for lots of people. I never did do the diet soda - too metallic tasting for me, only the reg.,but I haven't had any at all for 5 or so years avoiding the HFCS - I'm convinced that stuff (High Fructose Corn Syrup) is the culprit for all the childhood obesity we're seeing now.

24 posted on 07/20/2006 12:53:51 PM PDT by leilani
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To: Mase
That's the point - even though aspartame does not contain carbohydrates, it has been claimed to stimulate an insulin response, which can lead to metabolic problems, and which has led many type 2 diabetics as well as people who believe that they may be at risk for diabetes to substitute sweeteners such as Splenda for aspartame, in the belief that such response is either less or nonexistant with Splenda.

Is it true? Do a google search for articles on "cephalic phase of insulin release", for example here. There are also studies that would seem to dispute such claims, with respect to aspartame (for example, see this one).

25 posted on 07/20/2006 1:27:22 PM PDT by The Electrician ("Government is the only enterprise in the world which expands in size when its failures increase.")
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To: hispanarepublicana

No diet colas? Aw, geez, what's the point?


26 posted on 07/20/2006 1:30:37 PM PDT by InvisibleChurch (No.... wire .... hangers!)
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To: brytlea
I've never been a soda pop person, just don't like the taste, except for the occasional ginger ale.

I do drink mineral water every day. Not sparking water or club soda but real mineral water. Natural "carbonation", zero calories, zero carbs, it's just water but very refreshing due to the natural bubbles. It's really good with just a splash of juice - orange, cherry, etc.

The best tasting mineral water I've found is Gerolsteiner. Trader Joes carries it if you have one in your area.

27 posted on 07/20/2006 1:51:24 PM PDT by Oorang (Tyranny thrives best where government need not fear the wrath of an armed people - Alex Kozinski)
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To: hispanarepublicana

I've noticed with diet soda that I feel hungry very quickly afterwards. I only drink it when I'm driving and need a bit of caffiene to help stay awake.


28 posted on 07/20/2006 1:54:02 PM PDT by dirtboy (Glad to see the ink was still working in Bush's veto pen, now that he wisely used it on this bill)
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To: Oorang

I don't think we have a Trader Joes, but I will look. I used to like Perrier, a zillion years ago. Is what you're talking about similar?
susie


29 posted on 07/20/2006 1:54:03 PM PDT by brytlea (amnesty--an act of clemency by an authority by which pardon is granted esp. to a group of individual)
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To: brytlea
Perrier is similar in that it is mineral water. IMO Perrier tastes terrible, way to salty and it's...French :-). True Gerolsteiner is German but is the best tasting.

I know in North Carolina Gerolsteiner is sold at Kroger's grocery stores, don't know if you have those in your area either.

30 posted on 07/20/2006 1:58:01 PM PDT by Oorang (Tyranny thrives best where government need not fear the wrath of an armed people - Alex Kozinski)
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To: leilani
In other words, the fake stuff might be doing a number on the messages going to the brain.

Yes, I've seen these claims made by doctors and others who really don't understand the chemistry of satiation. They suggest that the taste function can control or influence the amount of calories that go into our bodies. This is not how the body is set up and contradicts what we've learned about hunger and satiation. These people seem to believe that the body's genetic structure can be overridden.

I suspect this sort of thing comes from the same people who want us to believe that high fructose corn syrup is somehow responsible for the increasing rate of obesity in this country even though it's made up of the same ingredients as sucrose in almost identical proportions. These are all claims that cannot be supported by further scientific scrutiny.

31 posted on 07/20/2006 2:16:33 PM PDT by Mase
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To: Oorang

I actually have not seen a Krogers here since we moved here (2 years ago). Mostly Publix, altho there is an Albertsons and a Winn Dixie.
I'm going to google it.
susie


32 posted on 07/20/2006 3:01:03 PM PDT by brytlea (amnesty--an act of clemency by an authority by which pardon is granted esp. to a group of individual)
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To: The Electrician
It seems that just about everything is being blamed for type 2 diabetes these days. Someone claimed here recently that MSG also causes diabetes. This makes a good point. Much of research today is done to find grant money. Grant money distributions have become very political and will flow to scientists studying afflictions that happen to be receiving the most media attention.

Your first link offers lots of suggestions, might be's and not clear's. This is not untypical. Most research is filled with suggestions and correlations. Rarely are causes identified. There may be something to all this but, with what we know for certain now, there is no proof that artificial sweeteners are in any way responsible for weight gain or the onset of diabetes.

From an article in Nutrition Today:

"A recent study by Martine Perrigue, et al at the University of Washington was presented at the April 2006 meeting of Experimental Biology. ("Hunger and satiety profiles and energy intakes following the ingestion of soft drinks sweetened with sucrose or high fructose corn syrup (HFCS)" Program Abstract # LB433) They concluded:"

It's from a pay site so I cannot link you. You can find it in Nutrition Today: Volume 40(6) November/December 2005 pp 253-256 by: Gayle L. Hein, BS, and Maureen L. Storey, PhD, Center for Food, Nutrition, and Agriculture Policy, University of Maryland-College Park, College Park, MD.

33 posted on 07/20/2006 3:11:26 PM PDT by Mase
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To: Mase
The very premise of your response is way off-base. No one anywhere that I am aware of has suggested that the body's genetic structure can be overridden by cutting out artificial sugar or HFCS. That's preposterous, of course. What they are saying is simply that consumption habits can be modified. And your inference of any claim here that "the taste function can control or influence the amount of calories that go into our bodies" is also in error. In fact, what they're saying is that "what we've learned about hunger and satiation" supports the contention that the relationship between consumption habits and satiation can be modified. Your assertion that they cannot is demonstrably false: ask anybody who has ever made a conscious effort, for medical reasons or otherwise, to decrease their salt consumption. Those who cut out the amount of salt in their diet get super-sensitive to it in rather short order - chips & such become almost unpalatable, and eventually you just don't need as much of it for food to taste good anymore. Essentially what the people in this article & a growing number of health professionals these days are now saying, is that taking the same approach to sugar (both real & sugary-tasting artificial) has, for many people, including myself, yielded the same results. We just don't crave as many sugary foods anymore - as we become dehabituated to the taste, we decrease consumption. Pretty simple common sense there.

As to your claim (without citation) that there is not a relationship between the proliferation of HCFS in just about everything we eat now (read those labels, folks) including even 'savory' foods as an additive (usually to give prepared foods 'body') and that it cannot be supported by further scientific scrutiny is also not the case. In fact, I don't know of a single place where you'll find anybody making that case in print. There's no question that the massive increase in HFCS added to prepared foods over the last twenty years has contributed to the increased consumption of calories by kids, and everyone else for that matter. Seriously, could you provide a citation from somebody for claiming otherwise? (I swear I'm not being snarky, I am really interested in the subject.) I will agree with you on one thing: I too am still skeptical of the claim, to the contrary of everything I was taught, that different sugars (sucrose, fructose etc) might be metabolized differently. They all break down to the same molecular structure, right? But there have indeed been studies (one in particular recently at UTMB in TX of which I am most familiar), where evidence that this might not be the case has been intriguing. There is other research currently underway investigating this at a couple of other research programs elsewhere. (I'll track 'em down & email you after I talk to the doc at UTMB). Nonetheless,the jury's still out on that one & I think I'll wait for more evidence before I start to make that claim.(Hey, I'm only an arts & humanities girl, what do I know? Zip except what works for me & quite a few other people I know who've tried the same approach.)

34 posted on 07/20/2006 4:59:02 PM PDT by leilani
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To: leilani
The very premise of your response is way off-base

No, you just misunderstood what I was trying to say. I've been shown numerous "studies" on FR that suggest sweet gustation exercises a level of control over the body's satiation and hunger mechanisms. These studies have also suggested that when the trigeminal nerves recognize thickness, it tells the body that calories are coming and satiation begins. Although your senses are able to cause hormonal activity in the body, these researchers are wrong when they suggest that the body can learn to determine, through taste or texture, what amount of calories are being consumed. I've never seen any research that proves this is so. Suggestion and correlation may get you additional grant money from the NIH but it is certainly a long way from proving anything.

We just don't crave as many sugary foods anymore - as we become dehabituated to the taste, we decrease consumption. Pretty simple common sense there.

What the article here is saying is that people who consume beverages sweetened artificially will crave carbs, and overeat more, than those who use sucrose. That makes no sense to me and defies what we know about hunger and satiation.

As to your claim (without citation) that there is not a relationship between the proliferation of HCFS in just about everything we eat now (read those labels, folks) including even 'savory' foods as an additive (usually to give prepared foods 'body') and that it cannot be supported by further scientific scrutiny is also not the case. In fact, I don't know of a single place where you'll find anybody making that case in print.

Maybe you're the one who should be providing citations. Once again, you're buying into the misinformation of the food police and research charlatans. HFCS is, for the most part, a replacement for sugar (sucrose). Where there was once (or would be) sugar, there is now HFCS. In some baked products, HFCS is used for texture and to slow oxidation. HFCS gained popularity because it costs less than sugar. Americans are forced to pay two to three times more than the world price for sugar because the government protects our inefficient sugar industry.

Per capita HFCS consumption in this country has replaced sugar consumption by nearly a one-for-one ratio since 1970. Per-capita fructose and glucose consumption is almost the same today as it was 30 years ago. The stats are provided by the USDA, which supports both sugar and corn farmers so they have no reason to be biased on this issue.

HFCS in soft drinks is comprised of 55% fructose and 42% glucose. HFCS is a monosaccharide - a free sugar. Sucrose is comprised of 50% fructose and 50% glucose. The molecules are bonded so sucrose is a disaccharide. All disaccharides are completely hydrolyzed in the gastrointestinal tract into their simple sugar (monosaccharide) components prior to absorption. In order to hydrolyze sucrose into fructose and glucose, the small intestine secretes an enzyme known as sucrase that is abundant and quickly converts the disaccharide into a monosaccharide like HFCS. At this point the glucose and fructose from sucrose and HFCS are metabolized identically and the body cannot distinguish between the source of either. The GI values of sugar, HFCS, honey and other invert sugars are almost identical. They all fall in the 55-60 range.

According to Nutrition Today: Volume 40(6) November/December 2005 pp 253-256 by: Gayle L. Hein, BS, and Maureen L. Storey, PhD, Center for Food, Nutrition, and Agriculture Policy, University of Maryland-College Park, College Park, MD:

I can't link you to this because it comes from my company's database.

There's no question that the massive increase in HFCS added to prepared foods over the last twenty years has contributed to the increased consumption of calories by kids, and everyone else for that matter. Seriously, could you provide a citation from somebody for claiming otherwise?

If there's no question then maybe you can explain why countries like England, Mexico and Egypt are experiencing the same rapid increases in obesity, especially in children, along with increases of type II diabetes when they use very little HFCS in their food.

From: Ebbeling CB, Pawlak DB, Ludwig DS. Childhood obesity: public-health crisis, common sense cure. Lancet 2002;360:473-482.

Nonetheless,the jury's still out on that one & I think I'll wait for more evidence before I start to make that claim.

I'm unsure what you're referring to here. Are you saying that there are studies out there showing that some sugars are converted by the body to something other than glucose? All carbohydrates, whether they come from starch, sucrose, fructose, lactose, galactose etc. are all converted by the body into glucose. What isn't needed for immediate energy is stored as glycogen. If the glycogen reserves are full it's converted to depot fat.

Saying HFCS is responsible for obesity is to blame something other than the real cause. Since the body converts all carbs to glucose, regardless of the source, it's pretty simple to conclude that it's the overconsumption of calories, and not enough exercise, that causes obesity and the resulting maladies.

35 posted on 07/20/2006 9:36:36 PM PDT by Mase
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To: Mase
For every diet soda the participants drank, they were 65 percent more likely to become overweight and 41 percent more likely to become obese.

This doesn't sound accurate at all.

36 posted on 07/21/2006 2:30:53 AM PDT by Jeff Chandler (Peace begins in the womb.)
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To: Oorang; brytlea
Gerolsteiner is sold at Kroger's

They also sell Big K lemon lime flavored sparkling water. I love it. $1.88 a 12 pack!

37 posted on 07/21/2006 2:35:10 AM PDT by Jeff Chandler (Peace begins in the womb.)
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To: Jeff Chandler
This doesn't sound accurate at all.

I agree. It probably generated enough alarm though to ensure they'd receive additional grant money to study the problem further.

38 posted on 07/21/2006 8:13:57 AM PDT by Mase
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To: Jeff Chandler

Does it have a sweetner or anything in it?
susie


39 posted on 07/21/2006 8:45:19 AM PDT by brytlea (amnesty--an act of clemency by an authority by which pardon is granted esp. to a group of individual)
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To: Mase
It probably generated enough alarm though to ensure they'd receive additional grant money to study the problem further.

Not problem, CRISIS.

40 posted on 07/21/2006 10:04:47 AM PDT by Jeff Chandler (Peace begins in the womb.)
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