6 things that happen when you stop drinking diet soda

Diet soda can be as harmful as regular soda, perhaps even more in the long run

We often see people shifting from regular sodas to diet ones when trying to lose weight. While diet sodas heavily advertise their ‘no sugar’ and ‘low calorie’ features, they leave out the warning signs. Truth is, diet soda can be as harmful as regular soda, perhaps even more so in the long run.



If you need motivation to quit drinking it, here are six things that happen when you stop:

1. Migraines disappear and your focus improves

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A review in the European Journal of Clinical Nutrition showed that the chemicals present in diet sodas may react with the chemicals in the brain, nerve signals and reward system. Naturally, this leads to headaches, along with anxiety and insomnia.

Another study showed that rats that drank diet soda had damaged nerve endings and cells in the cerebellum. This hampers your motor skills too. Once you quit, you will notice a change in level of alertness and reduction in headaches.



2. Your taste buds become more sensitive

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Research shows that diet soda modifies sweet receptors in your brain and delays your sugar cravings instead of satisfying them. The artificial sweeteners are too sweet for your taste buds and affect their functions. So, you are likely to consume more sugary snacks while having diet soda.

When you quit it though, your taste buds adjust back and you find more flavour in your regular food and enjoy it more. You don’t feel the need to consume extra salty or sugary foods to get the taste.



3. You actually start losing weight

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If you started drinking diet soda to lose weight, you may want to quit now.

A study found that adults who drank diet soda did not lose weight, instead continued to gain belly fat. Another study revealed that drinking diet soda daily leads to obesity, high blood pressure, high triglycerides, and in turn diabetes and heart diseases.

4. Your bones become stronger

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Any sort of soda is bad for your bones because it prevents calcium from being absorbed in your body. A study showed that each daily soda increased the chance of a hip fracture in postmenopausal women by 14 per cent. A lower bone mineral density in hips in older women who drank cola was also found in a study.



5. Risk of diabetes and fat storage reduces

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The link between diabetes and diet sodas is a tricky one. A study revealed that if you drink two-thirds of a can of diet soda before eating, your pancreas is likely to release a lot of insulin (the fat-storing hormone). This is to control blood sugar levels in the body. When the pancreas is overworked from this process, diabetes is soon to follow. Another study found that middle-aged men were more likely to develop type-2 diabetes if they drank one or more cans of diet soda on a daily basis over a seven year period.



6. Your kidneys start functioning better

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The kidneys work full time to clear toxins from your system and stabilise blood pressure. But when you drink diet soda, the kidneys have to take care of the various extra ingredients it contains and flush them out of your body. Some of them may even be absorbed. A study showed that women who drank at least two cans of diet soda doubled the chances of kidney functions declining. So do your kidneys a favour, and quit the monstrous sodas now.

This article originally appeared on Prevention.