Diet Soda Linked to Weight Gain, Says Study

Posted on Jul 5th 2011 12:00PM by That's Fit Editors By Amanda Chan for AOL Healthy Living Justin Sullivan, Getty Images

Diet soda might not help you stay trim after all, new research suggests.

A study presented at an American Diabetes Association meeting this week shows that drinking diet soda is associated with a wider waist in humans. And a second study shows that aspartame -- an artificial sweetener in diet soda -- actually raises blood sugar in mice prone to diabetes.

"Data from this and other prospective studies suggest that the promotion of diet sodas and artificial sweeteners as healthy alternatives may be ill-advised," study researcher Helen P. Hazuda, Ph.D., a professor and chief of clinical epidemiology at the University of Texas Health Science Center San Antonio's School of Medicine, said in a statement. "They may be free of calories but not of consequences."

In the first study, researchers collected height, weight, waist circumference and diet soda intake data from 474 elderly people who participated in the San Antonio Longitudinal Study of Aging. They were followed up an average of 9.5 years later, according to the research.

To continue reading this article and find out the full results of the study, visit The Huffington Post's health and wellness destination site, Healthy Living.

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