Further, these drinks may prime your taste buds for real sugar or calories and may lead you to overeat when you don’t get the energy in the form of calories that your body wants and needs.
Thirdly, a study published in 2008 also found that artificial sweeteners reduced the amount of beneficial gut bacteria in rats. These days we are more aware of the benefits of pre- and pro-biotics, and the importance of healthy bacteria in our intestines. To build up or maintain healthy gut flora, diet drinks wouldn’t be recommended.
Some animal studies have also shown that artificial sweeteners may stimulate insulin release, potentially leading to greater calorie intake at the next meal. Some suspect that after time, insulin resistance would also develop.
All these factors may partially explain artificial sweeteners’ contribution to obesity.
While there are none or very few calories in diet drinks, there have been some studies done that have shown that they could possible lead to weight gain. What these studies have shown is that drinking artificially sweetended beverages may possibly encourage cravings for other sweet food and drink. By drinking an artificially sweetened beverage, the body becomes used to getting these sweet (sometimes sweeter than sugar) flavors and craves more of that.
Why is this? Well, fake sweetener is exponentially sweeter than sugar and exponentially cheaper too. So while a little goes a long way in your foods, including diet sodas, it doesn't just sweeten the soda, it talks to you.
That fake-sweet diet soda tells you what sweet is.
That fake-sweet diet soda informs you what effervescent is.
So when you have an apple, or piece of naturally sweet fruit like a strawberry -- you think: Wow! That's not sweet!
I encourage folks to give artificial sweeteners a rest. In my book JUST 10 LBS: Easy Steps to Weighing What You Want, I present support, systems and tools to get healthier with food. In my own life, I use only a couple pink a day now, from a high of ten a day snuck into my diet in diet sodas and other foods! I'm no fan of the blue and yellow. Give your body a chance to restart the sweet set-point and see how nature intends you to taste, eat and feel with your food. It needn't be a fight or a war, but getting there might just take you outside your comfort zone.
Have a water. Green tea. Sparkling water, and mint-citrus flavored water too.
So you might think that the answer is to switch to diet sodas, right? Unfortunately it's not that simple. Research at the University of Texas actually showed that in an eight-year study 55 percent of those subjects who drank 12 to 24 ounces of diet sodas daily became overweight -- about twice as many as those consuming regular soft drinks with HFCS. In other words, diet soda consumption is twice as likely to lead to obesity as consuming soft drinks sweetened with HFCS. Why? Because it appears the diet drinks confuse the appetite control centers to trigger hunger rather than promote satiety.

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Hunger Free Forever: The New Science of Appetite Control
The studies on this are conflicting. However we do know that diet sweeteners are super sweet and may lead to craving sweeter foods more often so you may find yourself eating more sweets. Also some studies show that the body normally adjusts to sugar calories by compensating for those calories later on. With diet sweeteners the thinking is that there is no adjustment later on because the body does not recognize these calories. Consequently you may take in more calories from sweets. Generally it is wise to avoid diet drinks and drink water or unsweetened beverages.
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Important: This content reflects information from various individuals and organizations and may offer alternative or opposing points of view. It should not be used for medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. As always, you should consult with your healthcare provider about your specific health needs.