That diet soda study with weight loss claims.. read carefully
From the get-go, a study that claims drinking diet soda will help you lose weight doesn’t sound quite right, does it? When stories are put out there claiming solid scientific evidence, backed by big funding, and published in journal literature then it must be worth believing. Unfortunately this isn’t always the case!
In brief, this study was made up of two groups- one group was required to drink a minimum of 2 cans of diet soda per day per person, and the other group drank a minimum of 24 ounces of water per day. After a measured weight loss phase, the diet soda group lost an average of 14 pounds, and the water group an average of 10 pounds. This wasn’t the end of the study but these are the details that they want the public to focus on.
This particular study had some pretty clear flaws that will standout with a look at the finer print:
- the diet soda group wasn’t restricted in their liquid consumption any more than their minimum 2 cans per day, they very well could have been drinking water the rest of the time
- the water group similarly could have also been consuming high-sugar fruit juices, regular sodas, etc. outside of their required water intake
- the study was funded by the American Beverage Association, vested interest, of course, but maybe a little bias to more popular results
- a number of participants dropped out
- numerous other studies have documented significant decreases in physical and mental health for those with regular non-diet and diet soda drinkers
Read more about this study through the article, The Shocking Truth Behind That Diet Soda Study from the Institute for Natural Healing.
All we have is our health; without it everything else will suffer. When setting out to make lifestyle changes in the hopes of affecting our lives for the better, we should all make sure we do our research. Headlines are designed to be eye-catching and convincing but it is the content beneath it, holding everything up, that we really want to know about.
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