If you’re still trying to carve that summer body — or you’re simply trying to ward off obesity, heart disease, and diabetes — you should probably consider dropping soda from your diet. Even diet soda.
According to researchers from Purdue University, synthetic sugars like aspartame, sucralose, and saccharin may be linked to things like weight gain, type 2 diabetes, metabolic syndrome (which increases the risk for coronary artery disease, stroke, and diabetes), and cardiovascular disease. And those are the exact same dangers that present themselves when you suck down non-diet sodas.
Not surprisingly, the artificial sweetener companies have called bullshit, claiming their low-calorie products help people lose weight. Our take? We’re calling bullshit on them. The facts are, artificial sweeteners have been linked to things like kidney damage, cancer, and high blood pressure by multiple studies. They also make you hungrier, slow down metabolism, and increase insulin release. In other words, if you want to be completely healthy drink beer, wine, and spirits instead of soda! (Okay, and water too.)
