Do diet drinks really make you fatter?

Conclusion This large US-representative cross-sectional study indicates that overweight and obese people drink more diet drinks than healthy-weight people, but still consume the same amount of calories as those drinking sugar-sweetened drinks. The extra calories were made up by eating more food. This suggests that people who are overweight or obese may be switching to diet drinks to reduce their calorie intake when trying to control or reduce their weight. However, they consumed significantly more calories from food, which brought their total energy intake in line with those drinking sugar-sweetened drinks – effectively cancelling out any calorie reducing effect of the diet drink. The researchers noted that this may mean that, "When adults replace SSBs with non-calorie beverage alternatives, they make few other changes to their diet." The study had a number of strengths, including its large sample size and the fact that it was broadly representative of the US population, which has some similarities to the UK. However, there were some limitations that should be considered: The diet information used in the research relied on participants accurately and honestly recalling their food and drink intake in the previous 24-hour period. If any of the weight groups systematically under- or overestimated their food and drink intake, this would distort the results. The study was conducted in the US. The drinking habits of people in the UK may differ, which could...
Source: NHS News Feed - Category: Consumer Health News Tags: Food/diet Neurology Obesity Source Type: news