We all know diet soda can make us fat.
New research from the University of Texas reveals just where it makes us fat, however–and it’s not good news if you’d like a slim tummy.
According to new research published in the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society, older adults who drank diet soda regularly were more likely to gain weight in their abdomen, called central obesity. Central obesity won’t just give you a dreaded “beer gut” either; it’s also linked to metabolic syndrome, a collection of symptoms which raise your risk of cardiovascular disease and type 2 diabetes.
For researcher Sharon Fowler, M.P.H., this could help explain why healthcare costs are continuing to rise in the senior population.
“Our study seeks to fill the age gap by exploring the adverse health effects of diet soda intake in individuals 65 years of age and older,” says Fowler, a researcher from the University of Texas Health Science Center in San Antonio. “The burden of metabolic syndrome and cardiovascular disease, along with healthcare costs, is great in the ever-increasing senior population.”
For their research, researchers looked at data from the San Antonio Longitudinal Study of Aging, or SALSA, which examined the health of European- and Mexican-Americans over the age of 65. Researchers specifically looked at their use of diet soda, waist circumference, weight, and height, which they used to determined their risk of having central obesity. Central obesity, as explained earlier, is a significant risk factor for metabolic syndrome.
Examining three addition follow-ups which continued on for over 9 years, researchers then looked at how their waist size and diet soda consumption changed, if any changes occurred.
As it turned out, those who drank diet soda regularly had almost a tripled increase in their waist size when compared to non-drinkers. It also showed most of them had central obesity, putting them at risk of metabolic syndrome and other diseases, such as type 2 diabetes and heart disease.
As this age group faces one of the highest mortality rates for these diseases, the news isn’t good.
“The SALSA study shows that increasing diet soda intake was associated with escalating abdominal obesity, which may increase cardiometabolic risk in older adults.”
In conclusion, researchers say that diet soda could be a significant risk factor for metabolic syndrome, especially for older adults. To stop it, people should just decrease their soda intake–they should stop it for good.
What This Means For You
Even if you aren’t an older adult, the findings aren’t good for diet soda drinkers: Drink too much and you face the risk of metabolic syndrome. The solution? Stop now, if you can; if cold turkey isn’t an option though, slowly tapering off your diet soda intake can help make the transition easier.
Readers: Do you drink diet soda? Why or why not?
Sources:
Diet Soda Linked to Increases in Belly Fat in Older Adults – ScienceDaily.com
Diet Soda Intake is Associated with Long-Term Increases in Waist Circumference in a Biethnic Cohort of Older Adults (Study) – Wiley.com
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