5 ms·

Diet Soda Beats Water for Weight Loss, Industry-Funded Study Finds

10 points by givan 12y ago

ddorian43 12y ago
Probably the study was done on hamplanets who's body has changed to process diet-soda/mayo like water.
pyalot2 12y ago
You've got to be kidding me...
bhouston 12y ago
I don't think this is news or worth even discussing if it isn't a proper peer reviewed neutral study. Rather this is more a PR exercise.
bprieto 12y ago
It may be that people who drink diet soda consider it a treat, so they doesn't indulge in other fattening treats. The people who drink plain water might succumb more easily to temptation. But we don't know it this is the case, because the people who did the study probably just run to publish it the minute they got the results.
flazzarino 12y ago
diet teas – AKA laxatives. headline should read "diet soda + laxatives" beats water for weight loss
Tarang 12y ago
The study was funded by The American Beverage Association so I'd assume it was a bit like having a hammer and looking for nails
616c 12y ago
It's only a matter of time: Brawndo, it's what plants crave. http://www.avclub.com/article/emidiocracyems-brawndo-is-now-available-in-a-drink-75314 http://www.avclub.com/article/emidiocracyems-brawndo-is-now-...
lclarkmichalek 12y ago
Does anyone have an actual link to the study? I love a good ad-hominem as much as the next guy, but being able to read the actual thing might be useful. As far as I can tell, every single link on livescience.com leads to livescience.com, which is hardly enlightening...
- Someone 12y ago
  I guess it is http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/oby.20737/abstract http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/oby.20737/abstrac.... Clicking the PDF link gave me a PDF.
seeken 12y ago
Not quite on topic, but back in 2004, I switched from sugar soda to diet soda and lost 40 lbs. I didn't make any other changes at the time, and I did and do continue to drink a lot of soda. So the idea that some people have that diet soda cannot aid in weight loss is silly. Next time you see a fat person at the store with 4 12 packs of sugared Mountain Dew, imagine them 40 lbs lighter with 4 12 packs of diet Dr Pepper. That was me.
- zwieback 12y ago
  Good for you but the study compares diet soda to water. I personally don't believe the folklore that diet soda makes you crave more sugar but I'm suspicious of the claim it's better than water in aiding weight loss.
- Someone 12y ago
  Why would anybody think that switching from sugared to artificially sweetened drinks cannot help in weight loss? The question at hand is whether it helps as good as switching to non-sweetened drinks.
  - streptomycin 12y ago
    Why would anybody think that switching from sugared to artificially sweetened drinks cannot help in weight loss? Because multiple prior studies have shown that. Switch from regular soda to diet soda, and on average you end up eating more calories elsewhere to compensate. Switch from regular soda to water, and that doesn't happen. The human body is really complicated, and diet soda seems to mess with the systems that govern how hungry we feel.
deleted 12y ago
[deleted]
k-mcgrady 12y ago
I can see how this might work. For example on a 'slow carb diet' a can of diet soda per day is permitted. It has no sugar and people may consider it a treat - i.e. it's better to have that and stave off cravings than to have a chocolate bar.
Thriptic 12y ago
Ugh, I hate it when stories talk about studies and then don't link to them. Link to study: http://consumermediallc.files.wordpress.com/2014/05/oby20737.pdf http://consumermediallc.files.wordpress.com/2014/05/oby20737... Eh. The difference in weight loss was 1-2 kg over 12 weeks. That's incredibly negligible. Moreover, while they monitored for exercise adherence, they didn't measure dietary adherence at all; they didn't measure adherence to "study drug" (were the people even drinking the recommended quantity of diet sodas / water?); while they did take the diuretic effects of soda into account, they didn't have a caffeine control which is an obvious potential contributor; and it sounds like people may have been allowed to drink diet tea which could introduce other confounding variables. Most importantly, this is a link bait title for an observational study. At best all you can say here is that drinking 24 ounces of diet soda per day during a weight loss routine is correlated with slightly more weight loss, not that nutrasweet / diet soda induces weight loss as the title implies.
- phkahler 12y ago
  Let us not forget the downsides of the artificial sweeteners, and the phosphoric acid in a lot of these drinks.
kitcar 12y ago
Would be interesting to read the original paper, but it does makes some logical sense that consuming laxatives would result in some water loss, and therefore weight loss. (Some artificial sweeteners are laxatives). Unfortunately it would not be the kind of weight loss most people are looking to achieve.

10 points by givan 12y ago

ddorian43 12y ago

Probably the study was done on hamplanets who's body has changed to process diet-soda/mayo like water.

pyalot2 12y ago

You've got to be kidding me...

bhouston 12y ago

I don't think this is news or worth even discussing if it isn't a proper peer reviewed neutral study. Rather this is more a PR exercise.

bprieto 12y ago

It may be that people who drink diet soda consider it a treat, so they doesn't indulge in other fattening treats. The people who drink plain water might succumb more easily to temptation. But we don't know it this is the case, because the people who did the study probably just run to publish it the minute they got the results.

flazzarino 12y ago

diet teas – AKA laxatives. headline should read "diet soda + laxatives" beats water for weight loss

Tarang 12y ago

The study was funded by The American Beverage Association so I'd assume it was a bit like having a hammer and looking for nails

616c 12y ago

It's only a matter of time: Brawndo, it's what plants crave. http://www.avclub.com/article/emidiocracyems-brawndo-is-now-available-in-a-drink-75314 http://www.avclub.com/article/emidiocracyems-brawndo-is-now-...

lclarkmichalek 12y ago

Does anyone have an actual link to the study? I love a good ad-hominem as much as the next guy, but being able to read the actual thing might be useful. As far as I can tell, every single link on livescience.com leads to livescience.com, which is hardly enlightening...

Someone 12y ago
I guess it is http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/oby.20737/abstract http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/oby.20737/abstrac.... Clicking the PDF link gave me a PDF.

seeken 12y ago

Not quite on topic, but back in 2004, I switched from sugar soda to diet soda and lost 40 lbs. I didn't make any other changes at the time, and I did and do continue to drink a lot of soda. So the idea that some people have that diet soda cannot aid in weight loss is silly. Next time you see a fat person at the store with 4 12 packs of sugared Mountain Dew, imagine them 40 lbs lighter with 4 12 packs of diet Dr Pepper. That was me.

zwieback 12y ago
Good for you but the study compares diet soda to water. I personally don't believe the folklore that diet soda makes you crave more sugar but I'm suspicious of the claim it's better than water in aiding weight loss.
Someone 12y ago
Why would anybody think that switching from sugared to artificially sweetened drinks cannot help in weight loss? The question at hand is whether it helps as good as switching to non-sweetened drinks.
- streptomycin 12y ago
  Why would anybody think that switching from sugared to artificially sweetened drinks cannot help in weight loss? Because multiple prior studies have shown that. Switch from regular soda to diet soda, and on average you end up eating more calories elsewhere to compensate. Switch from regular soda to water, and that doesn't happen. The human body is really complicated, and diet soda seems to mess with the systems that govern how hungry we feel.

deleted 12y ago

[deleted]

k-mcgrady 12y ago

I can see how this might work. For example on a 'slow carb diet' a can of diet soda per day is permitted. It has no sugar and people may consider it a treat - i.e. it's better to have that and stave off cravings than to have a chocolate bar.

Thriptic 12y ago

Ugh, I hate it when stories talk about studies and then don't link to them. Link to study: http://consumermediallc.files.wordpress.com/2014/05/oby20737.pdf http://consumermediallc.files.wordpress.com/2014/05/oby20737... Eh. The difference in weight loss was 1-2 kg over 12 weeks. That's incredibly negligible. Moreover, while they monitored for exercise adherence, they didn't measure dietary adherence at all; they didn't measure adherence to "study drug" (were the people even drinking the recommended quantity of diet sodas / water?); while they did take the diuretic effects of soda into account, they didn't have a caffeine control which is an obvious potential contributor; and it sounds like people may have been allowed to drink diet tea which could introduce other confounding variables. Most importantly, this is a link bait title for an observational study. At best all you can say here is that drinking 24 ounces of diet soda per day during a weight loss routine is correlated with slightly more weight loss, not that nutrasweet / diet soda induces weight loss as the title implies.

phkahler 12y ago
Let us not forget the downsides of the artificial sweeteners, and the phosphoric acid in a lot of these drinks.

kitcar 12y ago

Would be interesting to read the original paper, but it does makes some logical sense that consuming laxatives would result in some water loss, and therefore weight loss. (Some artificial sweeteners are laxatives). Unfortunately it would not be the kind of weight loss most people are looking to achieve.