Should you stop drinking diet soda? |

This whole ‘diet soda’ thing keeps going around the web. Some people say it’s bad, while others say it’s good. I don’t really think it’s that good or that bad. I just think it’s a different option for those who are wanting to drink something other than regular soda, because it’s a healthier option.

Coca-Cola and Pepsi were the two biggest players in the soda market throughout the 20th century, but the tide shifted quickly in the 1990s, when New Coke, which was the result of a major redesign of the formula, was quickly melted down by the public in the form of a massive consumer boycott, and Coke’s market share began a steady decline ever since. But Pepsi has been more successful than Coke, taking the third spot as the #2 soda in the US (although worldwide it’s #3, after Coke and Dr. Pepper), and even expanding beyond that, as the #1 soda in China, Japan, and a number of other countries. So, should you stop drinking Diet Coke, or is it still the beverage for you

I don’t remember exactly when I started drinking diet soda. Maybe it was to help me cut calories. Maybe it was because I was having trouble losing weight. Maybe I thought I would get a small boost of caffeine. Whatever the reason, I started drinking diet soda and I’ve been drinking it ever since.

“Diet soda can’t possibly be healthy.”

Perhaps you’ve heard something similar before. (Or you might have stated it yourself.)

After all, diet soda is devoid of vitamins and antioxidants, and it’s typically sweetened artificially. So, what precisely is it that is “good” about it?

While the reasoning seems to be reasonable, it fails to address the main issue on everyone’s mind:

Is diet soda really harmful to your health? 

And, on a similar note, should you (or your customers) give up diet soda?

To discover out, we looked at the evidence and spoke with renowned scientists and nutritionists. We asked a number of questions along the process, including:

• • Is it true that diet soda causes weight gain?
  • Is it possible that it may make you want sugar?
  • Does it have an impact on your hormones?
  • Can it wreak havoc on your microbiome?
  • Is it capable of causing cancer?

What’s more, why are certain individuals “addicted” to it? 

The following questions and answers may help you determine whether diet soda is suitable for you. (Spoiler alert: you’ll find out what’s “good” about it as well.)

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Is it true that diet soda causes weight gain?

Several major observational studies conducted over the past two decades have shown a connection between diet soda intake and becoming overweight or obese. 1 & 2 (Other studies have shown benefits for weight control.)

“Is this because individuals are consuming these drinks in an attempt to lose weight, or is it because the diet sodas are causing the weight gain?” says Gail Rees, Ph.D., deputy dean of Plymouth University’s department of biomedical sciences. 3 “We don’t know what we don’t know.”

Granted, this kind of study does not demonstrate causation. As a result, it isn’t intended to be definitive. “High-intensity sweeteners” would be at the top of the suspect list if there was a smoking gun.

If you’re not acquainted with the phrase “high-intensity sweeteners,” it’s a popular method for food scientists to classify sugar replacements with zero or very few calories. Artificial sweeteners, such as aspartame, and all-natural sweeteners, such as stevia, are examples of these replacements.

The Federal Drug Administration (FDA) of the United States has authorized the use of eight high-intensity sweeteners in food4:

• Saccharin
• Aspartame
• Potassium acesulfame
• Sucralose
• Neotame
• Advantame
• Glycosides of Steviol (stevia)
• Extract of Monk Fruit (luo han guo)

While high-intensity sweeteners are included in a wide range of foods, they’re best known for being a major component in diet soda.

However, observational studies on diet soda have a unique difficulty that goes beyond just controlling for lifestyle variables (such as calorie intake, activity level, and smoking habits). They depend on food-frequency surveys, which require individuals to record their own consumption.

So, a research survey could question a broad group of study participants, “How many diet drinks do you consume each week?” The scientists would next do a statistical study to see whether there were any links between diet soda consumption and body weight (and other disease risk factors).

This self-reporting is notoriously shady in nutrition studies. Will the participants be able to recall exactly what they ate and drank? Will they be truthful? Will their responses provide a clear picture of how they normally behave?

All of these factors may skew the results. The conclusions are much murkier with high-intensity sweeteners.

The reason for this is because few people are aware of the high-intensity sweetener they’ve been eating.

Furthermore, sweeteners are mixed together to produce a taste that is more like to sugar. Aspartame, acesulfame potassium, and sucralose, for example, are all included in Mountain Dew Diet. 5

As a consequence, in observational studies, high-intensity sweeteners are usually considered as a single chemical class. However, the impact of each of these sweeteners on the body may be very varied.

(Read this 2019 meta-analysis in the British Medical Journal or this 2017 review in Nutrition Journal to learn more about the study.)

What if we looked at each of the high-intensity sweeteners separately?

Richard Mattes, Ph.D., a professor of nutrition science at Purdue University and head of The Ingestive Behavior Research Center6, was upset by what he heard at a symposium on sweeteners two years ago.

The researchers that ascended the stage presented findings that were outrageously contradictory. Some studies connected high-intensity sweeteners to improved health and weight reduction, while others cautioned that they may lead to illness and obesity.

“The results were so disparate,” Dr. Mattes adds. “And then it occurred to me: Why do we assume that all of these sweeteners would act in the same way?”

Dr. Mattes began a study after the Purdue conference that compared table sugar (sucrose) to saccharin, aspartame, stevia, and sucralose.

He had 123 individuals drink 1.25 to 1.75 liters of a beverage sweetened with only one of the five sugar replacements each day for three months. (That’s 42 to 60 ounces of diet soda each day, or 3.5 to 5 cans.) When the data came in, he discovered that each sweetener had a distinct effect on body weight. 7

Aspartame, stevia, and sucralose users gained so little weight in the study that the findings were statistically equivalent to zero. 

Those who ate saccharin, an artificial sweetener included in Sweet ‘N Low, gained 2.6 pounds, or about 60% more than those who ate sucrose.

Dr. Mattes adds, “That was a very unexpected result.” “With sucrose, we anticipated individuals to gain weight, but not with the low-calorie sweeteners.” (Note: These findings have yet to be confirmed.)

Why does it matter what kind of high-intensity sweetener you use?

Dr. Mattes, like many other experts, thinks the difference is due to how sweeteners move through our systems.

For example, aspartame, the only sweetener in Diet Coke8 and Dr. Pepper9, is rapidly digested and taken into the circulation as individual amino acids in the top portion of the gut (aspartic acid and phenylalanine). 6

Is it the aspartame? “It will never go into the circulation, and it will never reach the colon,” Dr. Mattes adds. He claims that this restricts its capacity to cause damage.

Neotame, which isn’t commonly used, is similarly believed to be quickly digested10, while other sweeteners are broken down in various degrees by enzymes as they pass through the digestive system. 6

In the colon, stevia and sucralose—the most common high-intensity sweeteners—appears in significant amounts, while saccharin (together with acesulfame potassium, which was not included in Dr. Mattes’ research) appears more readily in the bloodstream. 6

According to Dr. Mattes, “the notion that we can consider them all as a single class of chemicals is likely incorrect.” “We’ll have to look at them separately to evaluate their health effects.” (And, eventually, in many combinations with one another.)

And there, according to Dr. Mattes, is where the research will go. More research on individual sweeteners, rather than the class as a whole, will be conducted in the future years.

All of this isn’t to say that results from observational studies are irrelevant. However, in order to show that high-intensity sweeteners, and therefore diet soda, may promote weight gain, researchers must first figure out how it occurs. While there are hypotheses, none of them have yet been be proven true. Right now, this is how the research looks.

Theory 1: Diet soda causes sugar addiction.

The concept is that sweet meals and drinks change your taste preferences, causing you to desire sweeter things. As a result, it may be more difficult to say no to dessert or break-room doughnuts.

According to Brian St. Pierre, M.S., R.D., director of nutrition at, “it’s well-established that eating sugar-sweetened meals increases your appetite for sweets.” “You tend to want whatever you consume on a regular basis, and this is true for both sweet and non-sugary foods.”

Is it true, however, that eating high-intensity sweeteners makes you want sweets? The research is a little hazy.

The majority of research suggesting that high-intensity sweeteners enhance the appetite for sweet meals were conducted on rats. In reality, researchers identified just two randomized controlled studies that addressed the issue of sweet preference in humans in a meta-analysis published in the British Medical Journal in 2019.1 And they accomplished it by putting aspartame in the meals of fat and overweight people.

The findings of those research were that individuals who ingested the high-intensity sweetener had a reduced urge to eat sweet items.

According to St. Pierre, “there is some evidence that eating a diet version of a sweet meal may really help fulfill your need for sweets.” “Especially if you’re accustomed to drinking sweet soda and want to switch to a diet beverage.”

There’s also the potential that the impact will be extremely personalized. This may be an issue for some people, but not for others.

The second theory is that diet Coke has an effect on your hormones.

High-intensity sweeteners “fool” your body into believing you’re consuming sugar, according to the hypothesized process. This causes your pancreas to secrete the hormone insulin, which tells your body to slow down fat breakdown. As a consequence, losing weight may be more difficult.

A modest insulin spike has been seen in research on sucralose11 and saccharin, but an aspartame response has yet to be discovered in a study of 15 young males. 12 Overall, human investigations indicate that these insulin spikes are so tiny and short-lived that they are difficult to detect. Given what we know today, it’s doubtful that they have any effect on weight reduction.

Plus, even if there is a large insulin release, St. Pierre claims that your capacity to lose weight is more reliant on your total energy balance than on insulin. (For additional information, see Calories in vs. Calories Out.) Hormones, perhaps? The discussion has come to an end.)

Diet Coke affects your microbiota, according to theory 3.

What if high-intensity sweets change the microbiota in your gut? Dr. Mattes adds, “That may have consequences for energy balance, hunger, immunological function—all sorts of things.”

Dr. Mattes thinks that, as with other problems, the kind of sweetener used may have an effect. Those that pass through your intestines, such as stevia, sucralose, and, to a lesser degree, saccharin, may be more prone to cause issues, he adds.

While this is an interesting field of study, it is still in its early stages. Mark Pereira, Ph.D., a professor of community health and epidemiology at the University of Pittsburgh, adds, “There are some intriguing animal studies, but not a whole lot on humans.” 13 “They simply aren’t very good,” he adds of the human studies that do exist.

Now, all of this may seem to be a waste of time. However, knowing where these ideas stand is helpful for one reason: it helps you understand the current scientific data. (This is particularly helpful when reading Facebook comments on the subject.)

Of course, these aren’t the only ways a calorie-free diet drink may make you gain weight. According to some research, high-intensity sweeteners may increase hunger by interfering with appetite hormones and the way your brain controls food intake (or by some other mechanism). 2 However, many more research have shown no impact.

“The notion that high-intensity sweets make you hungry only appears to be accurate if you eat them alone, without any other nutrients,” adds St. Pierre. “This does not seem to be the case when taken with meals, but the evidence is sparse and far from conclusive.”

“If you presently consume a lot of normal soda, or have in the past,” adds St. Pierre, “diet soda is a better choice based on what we know today, even if it isn’t perfect.” “In comparison to high-intensity sweeteners, there is much more evidence on weight and health issues linked with sugar-sweetened beverages.”

What about cancer and other life-threatening illnesses?

Saccharin was related to bladder cancers in rats in the 1970s. 14 The sweetener was even prohibited from foods and drinks in the United States for a time.

However, the cancer connection was never shown in people, and according to a study published in Current Oncology, to achieve the dosage used to cause cancer in rats, you’d have to consume 800 cans of diet Coke each day. 15

Nonetheless, since saccharin, every high-intensity sweetener has been subjected to greater scrutiny due to the cancer concern. 

According to Dr. Mattes, “there are still individuals out there who believe that [high-intensity sweeteners] are linked to cancers.” “However, every governmental agency that has examined them—and they’ve done so extensively in the US, Australia, Europe, Japan, and Canada—has concluded that they’re not dangerous when taken in appropriate amounts.”

It’s understandable if it doesn’t seem very comfortable. Especially considering how much there is to understand about how the body processes specific high-intensity sweeteners.

However, there is presently no solid evidence that any of the FDA-approved sweeteners represent a significant health risk.

In fact, the chart below indicates how much of these sweeteners a 150-pound (68 kg) person should consume on a daily basis, according to the FDA. 4

Sweetener	Sweeter than table sugar by a factor of ten	Acceptable daily limit for a person weighing 150 pounds (68 kg)
Potassium acesulfame (Sweet One®, Sunnett®)	200x	1,020 mg
Advantame	20,000x	2,230 mg
Nutrasweet®, Equal®, and Sugar Twin® are all brands of aspartame.	200x	3,400 mg
Neotame (Newtame®) is a kind of neotame.	10,000x	20.4 mg
Saccharin (Sweet and Low®, Sweet’NLow®) is a sweetener.	400x	1,020 mg
Splenda® (sucralose)	600x	340 mg

* Adapted from the FDA’s Acceptable Daily Limit of High-Intensity Sweeteners chart in the United States.

To put things in perspective, these are the quantities of high-intensity sweeteners found in some common 12-ounce diet Coke cans16:

Diet Coke	Aspartame, 187.5 mg
Splenda-laced Diet Coke	45 mg potassium acesulfame + 60 mg sucralose
Coke Zero	87 mg aspartame + 46.5 mg potassium acesulfame
Pepsi Diet	Aspartame 177 mg*
Pepsi One	45 mg potassium acesulfame + 60 mg sucralose
Dr. Pepper Diet	Aspartame, 184.5 mg
Diet Mountain Dew	85.5 mg aspartame + 27 mg acesulfame potassium + 27 mg sucralose = 85.5 mg aspartame + 27 mg acesulfame potassium + 27 mg sucralose
Zero Sprite	75 mg aspartame + 51 mg potassium acesulfame

* Diet Pepsi has changed their recipe in the United States since this study. It’s now sweetened with aspartame and potassium acesulfame (precise amounts not available). * *Adapted from Mary Franz, MS, RD, LD’s Diabetes Self-Management, “Diet Soft Drinks.” Few individuals, of course, will consume 19 cans of Diet Coke each day. (We’ll refrain from saying “no one,” since… humans.) That’s the quantity of diet Coke alone that would put you over the daily limit.

Keep in mind, though, that high-intensity sweeteners are utilized in a lot more than diet drink. Low-calorie yogurts, energy drinks, baked goods, diet sweets, and protein powders and bars are all available.

And just because you’re not above the limit for diet soda doesn’t imply you’re drinking “appropriate” quantities, according to most health experts.

It’s not uncommon for new customers to report consuming six or more 20-ounce diet drinks per day, according to our coaches. By any standard, that’s a lot. These people often claim to be addicted to it. Which brings us to the next question…

Why can’t you just give up diet soda?

If you’re a die-hard diet soda drinker, you may be wondering why you can’t get enough. It’s even been described as “addictive” by others. (For additional information, see Are You Eating Too Much? It’s your brain’s fault.)

You may be certain that this isn’t a coincidence.

According to Brian St. Pierre, M.S., R.D., Director of Nutrition, “food and beverage producers systematically design goods, including diet soda, to appeal to the pleasure centers in your brain, tummy, and mouth.” “This encourages you to eat more than you would otherwise.”

Diet soda’s appeal is undoubtedly due to its sweetness. But what about the other major factors? Carbonation, caffeine, and taste enhancers are all common ingredients.

“This is referred to as stimulus stacking,” explains St. Pierre. “It’s how businesses create meals and beverages that are almost impossible to resist.”

Why do you like carbonation so much?

The attraction of carbonation, however, is that it hurts: CO2 burns your tongue. The discomfort is minimal and pleasant, much like the Tabasco on your eggs. It may also happen through a completely other route.

According to Paul Breslin, Ph.D., a member of the Monell Chemical Senses Center and a professor of nutritional sciences at Rutgers University, “enzymes in your mouth convert CO2 into carbonic acid.” 10 “That may really acidify the tissue, causing some discomfort.”

As the bubbles sit on your tongue, the discomfort intensifies, creating a built-in customizing mechanism. Someone who enjoys greater discomfort may simply take longer to appreciate each drink.

Carbonation enhances the signal coming from the liquid, quenching your thirst better than flat water, in addition to the tongue pleasure of a slight burn. 10

The most probable explanation is that it gives your brain more sensory input to grasp onto. “You can kind of make it hyper-stimulatory when you start toying with the sensory characteristics of the beverage,” adds Dr. Breslin. Even before you consider the sweetness, this may make a diet Coke feel more refreshing than water.

Diet soda’s tiny helper is caffeine.

Diet soda’s success is also attributed to caffeine. It adds a little bitterness to cola, despite its reputation as a productivity enhancer.

According to Dr. Breslin, “people who manufacture sodas have a propensity to claim caffeine is put there to alter the flavor.” “However, another group claims that the caffeine is at a level that may be felt systemically, similar to a caffeine rush from tea or coffee.”

To be fair, when compared to coffee, the amount of diet soda consumed is very modest. Diet Coke has 46 milligrams (mg) of caffeine in a 12-ounce can, whereas Diet Pepsi has slightly less. 17 That’s less than half of an eight-ounce cup of coffee18 and less than a quarter of a tall Starbuck’s Pike Place Roast. 19

Coaches often report that their clients consume a two-liter bottle of diet Coke on a regular basis. And all of that caffeine builds up over time.

Furthermore, the lower caffeine dose may encourage individuals to believe that soda is OK to drink with supper or before night, disrupting sleep and perhaps leading to weight gain.

According to a research conducted by the Mayo Clinic College of Medicine, decreasing people’s normal sleep periods by a third (approximately 2.5 hours) resulted in their consuming 559 more calories each day. 20 No, the sleep-deprived individuals didn’t utilize their additional awake hours to exercise: their calorie output stayed same despite eating more.

The X-factor in flavor enhancers

Why is Coca-Cola so much more popular than Pepsi?

It’s not because it’s sweeter, carbonated, or has more caffeine. It’s the combination of all the components, including the proprietary flavor enhancers, that makes Coca-Cola taste like Coca-Cola.

According to St. Pierre, certain component combinations activate the reward and hedonic regions of the brain. “They also have an understanding of human behavior.”

Assume you try diet soda and like it. So, like any normal person, you begin to consume it on a daily basis. “After a long period of regular intake, your brain learns to depend on and anticipate the pleasure hit it receives from the drink’s ingredients,” St. Pierre explains. “And that encourages you to consume even more alcohol.”

So, is it better to consume diet soda or not?

There is no one-size-fits-all solution that applies to everyone.

As is frequently the case, science alone does not determine the “correct” decision. Instead, it’s up to you, the individual, to decide what makes the most sense for you, based on the facts as well as your own tastes, lifestyle, objectives, and current consumption.

Experts who advise avoiding diet soda do so on the basis of the cautious principle: It’s preferable to think something isn’t safe unless it’s proved to be so beyond a shadow of a doubt. (In other words, phrases like “generally regarded as safe” and “appropriate daily consumption” aren’t enough.)

That might come off as excessively cautious, or it could make perfect sense. Neither method is incorrect.

But that gets us to the diet soda drinker’s conundrum, and the actual reason you’re still reading: What if you like diet Coke but are worried about its effects on your health?

Step 1: Prioritize what is really important.

There’s no compelling reason to give up diet Coke completely, according to scientific research.

“On the other hand, the dangers of having too much body fat are well-known and significant,” adds St. Pierre. “If substituting diet soda for normal soda or another high-calorie beverage helps you lose weight or maintain a healthy weight, the advantages exceed any possible drawbacks.”

Diet soda may help you achieve your health and fitness goals in more ways than just weight loss.

Maybe you’ve made the decision to drink less alcohol, and diet Coke seems like a reasonable compromise in social settings. You don’t enjoy unsweetened coffee or tea, but you need some caffeine in the morning or before your exercise. (See, diet soda serves a purpose!)

St. Pierre suggests seeing the work you put into your health as a jar. If you have a choice between large rocks, pebbles, and sand, big rocks will fill your jar the quickest. After that, smaller items like as pebbles and sand may be used to fill up the crevices.

In the great scheme of things, whether you drink diet soda or regular soda is a minor detail. According to St. Pierre, it might even be sand.

So, instead of focusing on altering your diet soda habits, concentrate on the “big rocks” that have the most effect on your health, such as:

• consuming mainly unprocessed complete foods
• consuming enough amounts of lean protein and veggies
• Only eat when you’re hungry, and eat slowly until you’re satisfied.
• getting enough sleep
• coping with anxiety
• regular movement
• lowering excessive alcohol/smoking intake

Unlike removing diet Coke, there is plenty of evidence that the behaviors listed above have a long-term impact on your health. Prioritize the most important tasks. (Coaches: This advise also applies to assisting your clients.)

Three more health-related points: 

1. People with phenylketonuria, a rare hereditary condition that makes it difficult to metabolize phenylalanine, should avoid all aspartame-containing products. (Aspartame is made up of the amino acid phenylalanine.)

2. Diet drinks are acidic, which may eat away at tooth enamel. In fact, most diet sodas were found to be “erosive” or “very erosive” in a recent research published in the Journal of the American Dental Association. 21 To put this in perspective, numerous flavored waters, packaged teas, juice, sports, and energy drinks also fulfilled these criteria.

3. Acid reflux may be caused by carbonation, coffee, or a high acidity level, according to St. Pierre. Because many diet drinks include all three, they’re one of the most dangerous triggers. If you suffer from acid reflux or heartburn on a regular basis, this is something to think about.

Step 2: Get rid of the all-or-nothing mentality.

You don’t have to quit cold turkey if you decide to drink less diet Coke.

In reality, there are many options accessible, ranging from drinking just water to consuming two liters of Diet Pepsi each day.

Consider the following scenario:

• Could green tea be substituted for the morning soda if you consume four diet sodas per day?
• Could you do it three times a week instead of every night with supper if you usually drink a diet Coke with dinner?
• Could you replace one or two diet sodas per day with carbonated water (such as seltzer or sparkling) if you want the bubbly mouthfeel?

This chart is used by St. Pierre to show customers how they may improve their drinking habits one drink at a time. The aim is to change your behaviors into the “drink more” category rather than totally eliminating beverages you like. (For full suggestions and tactics, see our “What to Drink” page.)

These changes may not seem to be significant at first. Small, regular adjustments over time, on the other hand, build up to long-term change.

As a general guideline, St. Pierre suggests aiming for 8 to 16 ounces each day as a “fair quantity.” Why? Because of the following:

• Ensures you’re well under the FDA’s or your country’s regulatory agency’s “acceptable daily limit.”
• Allows for the incorporation of other high-intensity sweetener-containing products (such as protein powders and no-calorie sweeteners for coffee and tea)
• Maintains a low enough intake to prevent tooth erosion.
• There’s plenty of space for health-promoting drinks like simple water, tea, and coffee.

Step 3: Keep in mind that there is no such thing as the “best” way to eat… or drink.

Even if a universal, one-size-fits-all “best diet ever” would make our lives easier… There isn’t one.

Instead, it’s about figuring out what kind of food (and drinking) works best for you.

Good nutrition is the objective, and it is feasible to achieve it in a manner that you like. Even if it means sipping diet Coke every day.

If you’re a coach or wish to be one…

It’s both an art and a science to coach clients, patients, friends, or family members through healthy eating and lifestyle changes in a manner that’s evidence-based and tailored to their own body, objectives, and preferences.

Consider the Level 1 Certification if you want to learn more about both. The next group will begin soon.

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The Level 1 Certification is your springboard to a better knowledge of nutrition, the authority to coach it, and the capacity to convert what you know into outcomes, whether you’re currently in the middle of your career or just getting started.

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References

To see the information sources mentioned in this article, go here.

1. Toews, I., Lohner, S., Kullenburg de Gaudry, D., Sommer, H., Meerphohl, J., Toews, I., Lohner, S., Kullenburg de Gaudry, D., Sommer, H., Meerphohl, J., Toews (2019). Systematic review and meta-analyses of randomised and non-randomised controlled trials and observational studies found a link between non-sugar sweetener consumption and health outcomes. The British Medical Journal is a peer-reviewed journal published in the

1. S. Lohner, I. Toes, and J.J. Meerpohl (2017). Analysis of the scientific landscape on the health effects of non-nutritive sweeteners. 16th Nutrition Journal (55).

1. Gail Reese, Ph.D., is the vice head of Plymouth University’s school of biomedical sciences.

1. Additional information about the usage of high-intensity sweeteners in food in the United States. (Image courtesy of the US Food and Drug Administration.)

1. Mountain Dew nutrition information.

1. Richard Mattes, Ph.D., is a Purdue University professor of nutrition science and the head of the Ingestive Behavior Research Center.

1. K.A. Higgins and R.D. Mattes (2019). In individuals with overweight or obesity, a randomized controlled study compared the effects of four low-calorie sweeteners and sucrose on body weight. 109(5): 1288-1301 in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition.

1. Diet Coke nutrition information.

1. Dr. Pepper nutritional information.

1. Paul Breslin, Ph.D., is a professor of nutritional sciences at Rutgers University and a member of the Monell Chemical Senses Center.

1. J. Dhillon, J.Y. Lee, and R.D. Mattes (2017). Insulin response to nutritive and low-calorie sweeteners in solid and liquid form during the cephalic period. Physiology and Behavior, vol. 181, no. 1, pp. 100-109.

1. M. Duskova, M. Macourek, M. Sramkova, M. Hill, L. Starka, M. Macourek, M. Macourek, M. Macourek, M. Macourek, M. Macourek, M. Macourek, M. Mac (2013). The function of taste in insulin secretion during the cephalic phase. 114(4): 222-30 in Prague Medical Report.

1. Professor of community health and epidemiology at the University of Pittsburgh, Mark Pereira, Ph.D.

1. M.D. Reuber, M.D. Reuber, M.D. Reuber, M.D. Reuber, M.D. Reuber, M.D. Reuber, M.D. Reuber, M.D. Reuber, M.D. Reuber, M.D.

1. L. Z. G. Touyz, L. Z. G. Touyz, L. Z. G. Touy (2011). Saccharin is classified as “non-hazardous” both in the United States and internationally. Current Oncology, vol. 18, no. 5, pp. 213-214.

1. M. Franz (2010). Soft drinks that are low in calories. Self-Management of Diabetes.

1. Diet Pepsi’s caffeine content.

1. Food Data Central is a resource for information on food. Department of Agriculture of the United States of America.

1. Starbucks Pike Place Roast nutrition facts.

1. Calvin, A.D., Carter, R.E., Adachi, T., Macedo, P.G., Albuquerque, F.N., van der Walt, C., Bukartyk, J., Davison, D.E., Levine, J., Somers, V.K. Calvin, A.D., Carter, R.E., Adachi, T., Macedo, P.G., Albuquerque (2013). Effects of sleep deprivation on caloric intake and physical energy expenditure in an experimental setting. 79-86 in Chest, 144(1).

1. A. Reddy, D.F. Norris, S.S. Momeni, B. Waldo, and J. Ruby (2016). The pH of drinks accessible to consumers in the United States. 147(4): 255-263 in Journal of the American Dental Association.

If you’re a coach or wish to be one…

It’s both an art and a science to guide clients, patients, friends, or family members through healthy food and lifestyle adjustments in a manner that’s tailored to their individual body, tastes, and circumstances.

Consider the Level 1 Certification if you want to learn more about both.

Some people have cut out soda from their diet completely, while others have reduced the amount they drink, but have not stopped completely. But why? We asked this question to the girls at our fifth grade class, and they all said because they don’t like the taste of diet or regular soda. So, should you drink diet soda?. Read more about quitting diet soda weight loss calculator and let us know what you think.

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