Can Diabetics Drink Diet Soda?

The typical American drinks about 50 gallons of soda or other sweetened beverages per year, according to PublicAdvocacy.org. This is equivalent to about 1.5 cans per person per day. Those with diabetes might have the same cravings for the bubbly fizz of soda, but worry that they shouldn't drink regular soda because of the high level of sugar--the average can of soda contains the equivalent of eight teaspoons of sugar. Diet soda, sweetened with NutraSweet or some other artificial sweetener, might provide a safe alternative for diabetics.

Diabetes

When you consume food or drink, your digestive system breaks down the carbohydrates and releases them into your bloodstream. Your pancreas detects the elevated blood sugar and releases the hormone insulin, which transports the sugar into cells for energy or into fatty tissues for later use. Diabetes disrupts this process. With type 2 diabetes, the cells no longer respond to insulin, or not enough is made, so blood sugar levels build up in the bloodstream, eventually causing damage. In type 1 diabetes, the pancreas can't produce any insulin. In either case, blood sugar remains high in the bloodstream, and over time, various organs suffer, including blood vessels, eyes, kidneys, heart and brain. Diabetics must alter their diet to reduce the amount of carbs and sugar they ingest. Consumption of regular sweetened soda must be limited

Diet Soda OK for Diabetics

Diet soda contains no carbs. While regular soda is sweetened with sugar or high fructose corn syrup, diet sodas are sweetened with artificial sweeteners, including aspartame, or NutraSweet; sodium cyclamate; saccharin, or Sweet N Low; neotame; and sucralose, or Splenda. These sweeteners do not affect blood sugar levels and do not affect insulin levels. Diet soda is a "free" food in diabetic diets. They do not count toward carb calories because they have no carbs and no calories.

Diet Soda Nutrition

Nutritionally, diet soda has no vitamins, minerals or any other nutrients. On the plus side, it has no calories, fat or cholesterol. It has a nearly negligible amount of sodium. The most if offers is hydration, and even that can be at least partly offset if it contains the diuretic stimulant caffeine.

Health Problems with Diet Soda

Many experts say diet soda can have adverse effects on health. For example, the February 5, 2005, "New York Times" notes that drinking diet soda might be linked to metabolic syndrome, a condition marked by abdominal obesity and elevated cholesterol, blood glucose and blood pressure. Aspartame and other artificial sweeteners used in diet sodas have been implicated in numerous medical conditions, including brain tumor rates, seizures, headaches, weight gain, mood disorders and heightened appetite, according to Dorway.com. Carbonation and phosphoric acid in diet sodas may increase the risk for osteoporosis, bone loss and dental problems by leaching calcium from bones, reports Duke Health.

Limits of Studies

Medical studies about the adverse effect of diet soda raise questions, but they do not provide definitive answers. For example, studies linking consumption of diet soda to metabolic syndrome and weight gain fail to separate causes and effects. People who drink diet soda may not be driven to eat poorly because of the diet soda, but rather, drink diet soda to try to compensate for their bad dietary habits. They figure, "I chowed down on all those doughnuts, so I'd better stick to diet soda." The problem might be with their diet, not with their consumption of diet soda. Similarly, people who drink lots of diet soda may not drink milk, so their bone and calcium problems might result from poor nutrition more than to drinking diet soda.

 

source: http://www.livestrong.com/article/286133-can-diabetics-drink-diet-soda/#ixzz2iMuZgEgk