Diet drinks differ from other drinks only because they are sugar-free. However, to provide a pleasant drinking taste, color and aroma sugar is changed by harmful chemical ingredients and materials that should be definitely avoided.
According to nutrition experts, the biggest part of diet drinks contains phosphoric acid and phosphorus that have been researched to remove calcium from the human’s body necessary for bones. Therefore, diet sodas or other sugary drinks increase the risk of osteoporosis. Another frequent component of carbonated drinks is sodium benzoate, which irritates the respiratory system and may cause asthma attack or stomach pain.
One of the sugar substitutes is cyclamate which is a typical carcinogen causing cancer after a continuous usage. Another substitute used for replacing sugar is the aspartame which decomposes in the carbonated water into the formaldehyde, methanol, phenylalanine and other harmful chemical compounds. It’s dangerous for human’s health because methanol affects nervous and cardiovascular system, formaldehyde is a carcinogen and phenylalanine is toxic. Consequences of using even the minimum doses of aspartame may be very serious, like brain tumors, sclerosis, epilepsy, chronic fatigue, Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s diseases, diabetes, mental retardation, tuberculosis.
The latest studies of fizzy drinks have revealed another fact about these drinks: instead of helping us to save some calories, diet drinks initiate the feeling of hunger! During the experiment, one group of participants was given diet drinks, while another – beverages and sugar. After drinking, the first group was the one that consumed significantly more food. So, if you drink sweet drinks you may gain some weight because of the sugar but if you drink beverages full of sugar substitutes, you may automatically eat more and also gain some unwanted pounds.