Diet Drinks Actually Make You Fatter, Claims New Study

If you think getting that diet coke when you go for your Maccies breakfast is going to help save your waistline, think again.

And not just because you’re at McDonald’s. It turns out that diet drinks actually confuse the brain and make you fatter.

The new study was carried out by Yale University, so you know it’s legit.

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The study says that the sweetness in the diet drinks, combined with the lack of calories, confuses the brain and triggers a chemical reaction that can actually make you eat more and put on more weight.

It sends the metabolism haywire, which is bad news for anyone wanting to shed the pounds.

That’s because in this situation, ‘a calorie is not a calorie’.

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In the words of Childish Gambino, they’re ‘faker than some Sweet’n Low’.

Dana Small, co-author of the paper, explains:

The assumption that more calories trigger greater metabolic and brain response is wrong.

Calories are only half of the equation – sweet taste perception is the other half.

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So basically, artificially sweet, diet drinks might trigger a bigger metabolic response than a calorie ridden beverage.

Not only does it potentially make you fatter, it can also increase the risk of diabetes.

In response to the study, Tam Fry, who works at the National Obesity Forum, said:

This research should be enough to convince you that artificial ingredients, whether they be in food or drink, can screw up your system even though they may sound healthy.

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They may be free of calories but not of consequences – and diabetes is only one of them.

Obviously this does not just relate to diet drinks, but any food that’s filled with artificial sweeteners like low calorie yoghurts.

The results of this were found from giving 15 people drinks of varying calorific content, and measuring their brain responses in an MRI machine.

It might not stay this way forever, as Professor Small suggests that our brains might learn to react to these sweeteners in a different way.

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Because these sources of sweetness are very new to our bodies, they don’t know how to react – this might change.

Don’t expect that any time soon though.

Stick to that water.

UNILAD