Why “Too Good to Be True” is Often a Self-Fulfilling Prophecy

I've personally run into this misconception more times than I'm comfortable with ignoring and I figured it's time to set the record straight, if not for others, at least in an articulate way for myself.

Diet Soda Is Not Bad For You

Diet soda is not bad for you, or at least not in the same sense that most people think. Diet soda, defined as a carbonated beverage containing a low-calorie artificial sweetener like aspartame, sucralose, stevia , or others, has been scrutinized as a beverage that is “just too good to be true.” Because diet soda lacks calories and therefore there is no longer a caloric detriment in drinking it, people reason that there must be some less obvious downsides to it otherwise it's essentially magic. Consequently, certain scientific studies have been highlighted for demonstrating the damage diet soda has on metabolic health and risk of cardiovascular disease like heart disease and diabetes type 2 (Source: 1, 2). However, these studies only demonstrate a correlation, not a causation, between diet soda intake and a disease state. This is far from proving that diet soda is the metabolic villain it's often played out to be. Instead, the more likely explanation is that people who drink diet soda are often more likely to consume an unhealthy diet alongside it and therefore their health consequences are an effect of the overall diet rather than diet soda alone.

The Lesser of Evils ![Always drink in moderation, my friends]

The hypothesis that diet soda's correlation to bad health is due to the consumer's overarching dietary behaviors rather than the soda itself is supported by Gardener, et. al. in the Northern Manhattan Study (Source). Gardener and her colleagues found that diet soda's role in, and subsequent correlation with unhealthy individuals, was due to it being used as a coping mechanism. That is, these already unhealthy individuals, in an attempt to balance their caloric intake, sought out diet soda as a “lesser of two evils” that could satisfy their sugar cravings without adding to over calories consumed. Although evidence that of it's effectiveness in managing obesity and heart disease is lacking, this study still demonstrates that the consumption of diet soda often occurs when individuals are already unhealthy rather than as a behavior that leads to that state.

The Real Consequences

The real problem with diet soda, which is an issue shared by all soda, is its effects on dental health. In a literature review by Cheng, et. al., soft drink consumption was strongly linked to enamel erosion and tooth decay (Source). This result was mostly attributed to the acidity of soda, although the presence of natural sugar increased consequences. So the issue with soda, all soda, is not mainly it's calories, or lack thereof, but rather it's acidity and the damage that does to enamel overtime. However, this does not mean diet soda, or even regular soda, is the devil, rather you should just avoid over-consumption.

Always drink in moderation, my friends.