"Are diet drinks making us eat more?"
Now, I am not really one for a conspiracy theory, but this I found very interesting. Recent research (fairly unbiased research at that) has discovered that there may be a link between sugar replacements, and a higher appetite. They have proven that the brain can recognise sugar, and also recognise the energy that it provides your body, and therefore helps you to feel full after consuming it. But, when the body consumes a sugar replacement, it does not feel satisfied, and therefore tells the body that it is hungry.
This test went further and got two groups of footballers together. One group was given sugary drinks, and the other was given sugar-replacement drinks. They were then provided with two tables of food (obviously seperate from eachother) both with identical foods and were told to eat their fill, being sure that everything taken from the table had to be consumed. At the end of this, it was discovered that the group of sugar-replacement drinkers consumed on average 120 calories MORE than the other group.
This is all quite logical to me. The body needs energy to function, sugar provides energy and therefore requires less energy from other sources. Also, the worst of the sugar-replacements was found to be aspartame. This chemical is NOT found naturally ANYWHERE in nature, unlike many other sweeteners.
So, with evidence that sugar-replacements encourage us to eat more, could it be that fast food outlets are encouraging the consumption of diet drinks, or maybe even putting them into ALL of their drinks? Just a bit of food for thought.
With commonsense and logic at the front of my mind, it seems to me, that for the healthiest outcome we should consume sugar if we want something sweet. And, if we are trying to lower our energy consumption, we should look to WATER and not pretend to care by drinking diet drinks. The sad truth is though that people are addicted to their sweet poisons, and will do anything to keep them, even drinking harsh chemicals that do them no good. Do yourselves a favour, and replace one drink a day with water. you will notice the difference. And that way, you can have those calories in some other form... LIKE CAKE!
Please, let me know if you have noticed this diet dilemma or have other information on this interesting topic.
-T.J.
