Why Diet Soda Could Actually Prevent You From Losing Weight

Reaching for a diet soda may actually hinder weight loss efforts, a new study done in mice suggests. In experiments, researchers found that the artificial sweetener aspartame, which is found in some diet drinks, may contribute to the development of a condition called “metabolic syndrome,” which involves a cluster of symptoms, including high blood pressure, high cholesterol levels and a large waist size. People with metabolic syndrome face an increased risk of heart disease, stroke and diabetes. The researchers found how aspartame could be linked with metabolic syndrome: Aspartame may stop a key gut enzyme from performing its work in breaking down fat during digestion. [7 Biggest Diet Myths] “This is the novel mechanistic insight,” and it may explain why diet drinks can be ineffective at helping people to lose weight, Dr. Richard Hodin, senior author of the study and a professor of surgery at Harvard Medical School, told Live Science. The study included three separate experiments. In the first, researchers added the gut enzyme to solutions of diet soda and regular soda. They found that the activity of the enzyme was significantly lower in the solutions of diet soda as compared to the solutions of regular soda. Normally, the enzyme — intestinal alkaline phosphatase, or IAP — works in the intestines to break down cholesterol and fatty acids. Previous studies by the researchers showed that levels of IAP may be linked with people’s ri...
Source: Science - The Huffington Post - Category: Science Source Type: news