5 Powerful Reasons To Quit Drinking Diet Sodas Now

Still not convinced that artificially sweetened soft drinks are bad for you? Get ready to change your tune!  I’m sharing five powerful reasons to quit drinking diet sodas right now. If these studies don’t make you ditch the diet drinks and start drinking more water, I don’t know what will.

5 Powerful Reasons To Quit Drinking Diet Sodas Now

Remember my post about how Drinking One Diet Drink A Day Can Triple Risk Of Dementia And Strokes? The article generated a lot of controversy. While many people commented in favor, others need more convincing.  Sure, we need more studies before we can be 100% sure of the dangers of artificial sweeteners. Yes, it’s also true that we have to take relative vs. absolute risk into account.

But one thing is certain, diet soda isn’t the fantastic real-sugar alternative that everyone thinks it is . Many experts in increasingly larger numbers now tell you how bad these drinks really are for your health and why you need to quit. And I think we should be listening to them.

People tend to think that diet drinks are healthier because they contain no sugar, but the reality is diet soda may be free of calories, but not of consequences. Artificial sweeteners can be worse than sugar. Just the word “artificial” gives you an indication that it can’t be the best option for you.

This is why I am sharing with you some studies that have already been done. In my opinion, these are 5 powerful reasons to quit drinking diet sodas now. By the way, I’ve updated this post to reflect new information as of June 2023!

5 Good Reasons Why You Should Quit Drinking Diet Sodas

From messing with your fertility to changing your mood, diet drinks have the potential to cause major problems throughout your entire body. Take a look at just five of the more shocking ways they damage your health. You can click on the studies and find out more details.

1. Diet Drinks Can Alter Your Mood

The mood-food connection is ever-rising. Some studies show that aspartame (a very common artificial sweetener) can really mess with your brains, especially if you suffer from anxiety, depression and bipolar disorder. For example, a study by the American Academy of Neurology suggests that “drinking sweetened beverages, especially diet drinks, is associated with an increased risk of depression in adults…”

A 2014 study published in Research in Nursing & Health found similar effects. According to their results, “When consuming high-aspartame diets, participants had more irritable mood, exhibited more depression, and performed worse on spatial orientation tests.” Oh, and did you know that Aspartame is also on the US Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) list of potentially dangerous chemicals contributing to neurotoxicity? Is that really something you want to ingest?

2. Diet Drinks May Cause Weight Gain

Ironically, the drink you use to lose weight can actually cause you gain it instead. The American Psychological Association made waves back in 2008 when they released their study showing that “the widespread use of no-calorie sweeteners may actually make it harder for people to control their intake and body weight.” A 2014 University of Colorado study confirmed it, as did a 2015 Wiley study and a 2017 study from the Imperial College in London. Finally, a 2019 George Washington University study found that children and teens who drink diet soda do not save calories.

Not yet convinced yet that diet soda does not help you lose weight? Need even more studies to back it up? How about this one? Perhaps this one? Maybe this one will do the trick! Seriously, out of all the powerful reasons to quit drinking diet soda, its affect on your weight has been the most well-studied and documented. In other words, it’s as close to indisputable as you can get in science.

3. Diet Drinks Can Mess With Your Fertility

Women who regularly consume diet soft drinks may reduce their chances of getting pregnant, according to research. A recent study of 524 patients found a link between artificial sweeteners, such as those used in “diet” sodas, and lower fertility rates, while use of sugar in soft drinks and added to coffee was associated with poorer quality of eggs and embryos.

Professor Adam Balen, Chairman of the British Fertility Society, said of the study: “This is a very interesting study that suggests the false promise of artificial sweeteners that are found in soft drinks and added to drinks, such as coffee, may have a significant effect on the quality and fertility of woman’s eggs and this may further impact on the chances of conception.”

In other words, if you’re trying having trouble trying to conceive, ditch the diet soda. While it may not solve the problem entirely, it definitely can’t hurt to try.

4. Diet Drinks May Make Your Kidneys Sluggish

If you want to stay healthy, it seems diet drinks are your worst enemy. According to a Harvard Nurse’s Health Study, these drinks also interfere with your kidneys, where research found that just two servings of diet soda each day can cause a “2-fold increased odds for kidney function decline in women.” Interestingly, sugar-sweetened sodas had no connection to decreased kidney function. Of course, they cause their own slew of problems, so don’t use that as an excuse to switch to regular soda!

5. Diet Drinks Contain Ingredients Linked to Cancer

As of June 2023, the World Health Organization is officially declaring aspartame a possible carcinogen.  While Aspartame is currently approved an FDA-approved artificial sweetener (and likely will remain one even with the WHO declaration), a whole host of studies and a substantial amount of data show “strong links to cancer.”

In the US, the Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI) cautions against Aspartame because it is poorly tested and contains three well-known neurotoxins and a reported study at the Cesare Maltoni Cancer Research Center found that Aspartame increased cancer risk if exposure begins in the womb.

By the way, if you’re thinking that something approved by the FDA must be safe, let’s take a look at a few other things they deemed “safe” at one point (or still deem safe):

• Herbal tea containing cocaine in 2010.
• Sulfite preservatives on produce (this chemical is linked to headaches, allergies, and even asthma in some people)
• Red Dye #3, which ironically is banned in cosmetics but not in food. It can cost a host of issues ranging from ADHD in kids to thyroid cancer. FYI, it’s found in berry-flavored sodas, so if you’re drinking a diet cherry cola, you’re getting a double whammy of bad-for-you ingredients.
• Trans fat! Look how long it took for them to take that off the “safe for consumption” list.
• Antibiotics in meat, milk, and other foods. They still claim that’s safe, despite evidence that it’s one of the culprits behind “superbugs.”

In other words, just because we think something is “safe” doesn’t mean it really is! Remember, Cleopatra thought lead made great eyeliner, mercury turned very real hatters mad and our great-grandparents’ doctors prescribed opium to babies. So, “safe” is all relative!