A new study suggests that drinking diet soda prompts the body to increase intake of sugar and fat laden foods like cookies and french fries.
The University of Illinois assistant professor of kinesiology and community health Ruopeng An, found out that, during the days people involved in the study, take in diet or sugar-free drinks, they have that tendency to consume more calories, about 49 kcal from nutrient-poor foods such as ice cream, cookies, cakes, pies, sweet tarts, muffins and fries (or as the researchers refer to as discretionary foods, as the body does not it to function) as compared with the days that these individuals skip on their diet beverage intake.
According to Live Science, the researchers asked 22,000 U.S adults about their food and beverage intake for two non-consecutive days. They have found out that 90 percent of the people who responded, had consumed discretionary foods on both days which gave them 483 calories per day from the said group of foods. It was also significant to note that people consumed the fewest calories from discretionary foods on the days when they did not have any sweet beverage intake.
"It is not clear why exactly diet drinks may be linked to an increased intake of calories from unhealthy foods...It is possible that people do not feel satiated after consuming diet beverages, so they compensate by eating more discretionary foods," An said.
He also added that the participants feel less guilty about eating more calories after drinking a diet beverage, that's why eating discretionary foods - pastries, chips or fries, is very much justified.
But he strongly noted a third possibility of this eating habit: "Perhaps people indulge in unhealthy foods first, and then they choose to consume diet beverages because they feel guilty about eating the foods," An said.
