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For those of you who think switching from the "real thing" to diet soda will help in losing weight; you are in for a rude awakening. More and more research is showing that not only will it not help but there is evidence that artificially sweetened diet beverages could actually cause you to gain weight. Researchers at the University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio -- School of Medicine did a ten-year study of people who drank diet soda. They studied approximately 500 people and they found that people who drank two or more diet sodas a day saw their waist line grow 70% more than those who didn't drink diet soda. As to why the drinkers of diet soda gain more weight needs additional research before the exact causes are definitively determined. However, speculation as to the cause focuses on the effects of artificial sweeteners and how the mind and body reacts to them. One professor at the University of Texas theorizes that artificial sweeteners make us crave sweets, increases appetite, and may even damage brain cells that control the sensation of feeling full. Apparently when we taste sweet foods our brains expect a comparable amount of caloric intake and releases insulin accordingly. The body then does not burn fat for energy because it is expecting an increase in caloric consumption based on the sweet sensation. Since the calories are not there the brain becomes confused and creates the sensation of hunger to get you to consume the calories promised by the sweet drink. This theory is largely supported by research done on lab mice. Researchers divided the mice into two groups. Group A ate food laced with the sweetener aspartame. After three months the aspartame group had higher levels of blood sugar than the mice that ate normal food. There is also speculation that same is true of other artificial sweeteners even ones made from sugar derivates or from the Stevia genus of plants. Besides artificial sweeteners, it is further theorized that high fructose corn syrup (HFCS) has similar effects on weight gain as artificial sweeteners. HFCS is preferred to cane sugar by food and beverage manufacturers because it tastes similar to sugar, mixes well and is cheaper than sugar. As ironic as it is, more and more mounting evidence is proving that sugar may be the more beneficial sweetener when trying to lose weight. However, weight loss still comes down to consuming fewer calories than you burn. As we all know sugar is dense in calories so if you absolutely have to have a sweetener you may very well want to consider using sugar, but use it sparingly. Author: Max D Power Having once weighed more than 300 pounds Max D Power understands obesity and the struggle to lose weight and keep it off. If you want straight talk, real world tactics that work then go to http://www.FatToSkinnyWeightLoss.com for more free tips on weight loss and programming your subconscious for success. View Count: 171
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