
Diet Soda: The Brain Knows Better - chaostheory
http://trueslant.com/ryansager/2009/03/08/diet-soda-the-brain-knows-better/
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ghshephard
Real world Anecdote: I'm a cube Monkey. Six months ago I switched from Coke to
Coke-Zero (I can't stand the aspartame taste in Diet Coke, they managed to
mask it somewhat in Coke-Zero). No other lifestyle changes whatsoever. I
dropped from 195 pounds to 175 without really noticing and then stabilized.

So, for whatever reason, I'm a data point that tends to be contrary to the
thesis put forward in the article. Sounds like a fairly easy thing to do a
controlled study on though.

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jusob
I think the point of the article means that you would drop another 20 pounds
by switching from diet coke to water :-)

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bshep
I thought coke zero has 0 calories, other than the kidney stones you will get,
it should not affect your weight due to calories no matter how much you drink,
contrary to regular coke.

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timwiseman
The point of the article is that drinking diet soda frequently messes with
your internal connection between sweetness and being satisfied (full) in
generally.

So in other words, people who drink diet soda will in general eat more and
drink more of other sweet things in general and thus gain wait because their
internal connections no long correspond to the real world.

That is why they would gain weight, not from the sodas directly.

Assuming of course that the hypothesis holds.

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joeyo
It's not a bad theory. Interestingly, there is evidence of inputs into the
brain reward system that operate independently of sweetness and that perhaps
directly encode metabolic value: Rodents that lack the ability to taste
sweetness prefer caloric sweeteners such as sucrose to noncaloric sweeteners,
such as sucralose[1]. Therefore the brain can detect calories more directly.

So in the context of this new study, it could be that the brain notices that a
certain rate of eating/drinking is correlated with a decreased rate of satiety
and concludes that the correct thing to do is to eat more.

1\. <http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.neuron.2008.01.032>

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snewe
This may explain my observation that people who drink diet sodas drink a LOT
of diet sodas, while people that just drink soda do so occasionally.

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mcav
People who drink lots of diet soda probably drink more because they are used
to the taste and it _has no direct influence_ on weight gain.

Given the choice between a diet soda and water? I'll take the soda, thanks,
unless I'm really thirsty. Better taste, without excess calories.

Maintaining a healthy diet isn't rocket science; drinking diet soda rather
than water won't influence your weight unless you alter your diet in other
ways.

That's what self-control is for. Rats don't have much of that.

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IsaacSchlueter
_That's what self-control is for. Rats don't have much of that._

Neither do humans. That's why rats are such good test subjects.

The point of the study is that your brain gets the pleasure, but no caloric
intake to go along with it, so you feel more motivated to get more calories
than you would have otherwise.

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jasonlbaptiste
There are 3500 calories in a pound. Each can of soda has 170 calories.
Switching to diet soda makes a difference. Even if you have only one can of
soda a day (it's usually more), you'll lose 1.45 pounds a month. Now, if you
all of a sudden substitute those 170 calories with some other junk, you just
ruined it all. Eliminate the stupid calories and be smart. It's a science. It
works. I lost 35 pounds in 60 days doing this. Other than that, this article
is completely silly and complicates what is otherwise a simple formula. Reduce
calories, increase exercise,and stay dedicated. Anything else is a
distraction.

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ghshephard
Actually, the entire point of the article is that you _won't_ eliminate the
stupid calories by drinking Diet-beverages, but instead will consume more of
them _because_ you are drinking Diet-Beverage. They have some data to back it
up:

"We found that reducing the correlation between sweet taste and the caloric
content of foods using artificial sweeteners in rats resulted in increased
caloric intake, increased body weight, and increased adiposity"

I find their thesis entirely believable, and it would be a fairly easy thing
to do a controlled study on.

Why people believe that they can somehow control what they eat through
"willpower" or "dedication" is something I continue to find interesting -
doesn't this type of control come from the brain? This article shows that with
an fMRI, your brain will actually be able to determine caloric intake of an
artificially sweetened beverage - the implication being that you will then be
directed to increase your caloric intake, and, as a result of consuming
artificially sweetened beverages, you will consume _more_ calories than you
would have if you hadn't consumed that artificially sweetened beverage.

Presumably for each persons metabolism their is something that tricks the
brain into believing _more_ calories have been consumed, and causes you to
consume fewer calories as a result.

I think the foundation of diets like Atkins/Zone, is that by consuming
high(er) Fat/Protein diets, you are hacking your brain into thinking it has
eaten more than if you hadn't eaten those foods.

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radu_floricica
I'm guessing it depends on the kind of diet. If you want to loose weight short
term and you watch what you eat or you follow a program, then the calorie gain
from drinking diet sodas is great. Even more, you can have the occasional
sweet thing without ruining the diet.

If you want a long term, mostly maintaining diet, then yes, the side-effects
can become important.

And to answer your willpower question: yes, it comes from the brain. But we
have many "brains". And the one you use in a strict, short-term weight loss
diet has very little in common with the every day "I feel like having a snack
and it's ok" brain.

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Kirby
I think this nails it. If you're part of a conscious diet and watching
calories, diet soda can be a good choice, because you're _explicitly_
controlling for the effect the study is about - the false sweet causing
cravings and ultimately more calorie consumption. It might follow, though,
that the diet soda makes the rest of the diet more difficult.

If you're just subbing in diet soda for regular and not paying particular
attention to overall diet, though, this study argues that you'll overall lose,
as the diet soda increases your cravings for sweet and, left unchecked, you'll
gain weight. Seems plausible.

(I don't worry too much personally, since I'm part of the population to which
artificial sweeteners are not palatable. I'd rather drink water, and I do
quite often.)

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tptacek
This doesn't make intuitive sense to me: like almost everyone I know who
drinks Diet Coke / Coke Zero, regular Coke --- the kind I'm supposed to have
extra cravings for because the Coke Zero has jumbled up my pleasure wiring ---
tastes completely disgusting to me now.

Am I supposed to be getting these sweet-calories from some other source?
Because it's not as if diet soda has suddenly got me eating huge bags of M&Ms,
either.

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tallanvor
I noticed that once I got used to drinking diet sodas, the regular stuff
started feeling too syrupy and tasted way too sweet.

And although this may just be me, but I haven't noticed any correlation
between the frequency and strength of my sugar cravings based on whether or
not I've been drinking diet soda.

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warfangle
Funny - the diet stuff always seemed too sickly sweet to me.

Of course, I've switched to seltzer with lime and black coffee :)

Haven't had a craving for "sweets" in quite some time.. no candy, no soda. And
I feel much better for it. I don't know how it happened, or when.. but I just
don't want sweet stuff anymore. The cravings left before I cut them out of my
life.

I think it might have to do with the fact that the last five years of my life
have been much more sedentary than the previous five (bad ankle injury). Not
exercising as much = not needing as much calories, and since I hadn't tricked
my brain with diet soda, I just don't crave sugar anymore. Of course, now that
I've started exercising again maybe they'll come back.. we'll see!

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pauldino
One thing I find interesting is that the rats lived in an environment where
either sweetness always meant additional calories, or sweetness never did
(assuming I'm reading the paper right). Which does lead me to wonder:

1\. What would happen if sometimes the yogurt was sweetened with sugar, and
other times with artificial sweetener? Perhaps at some point the calorie
reduction from using artificial sweeteners would balance out the additional
calories caused by eating more.

2\. And what if the rats started out with regular yogurt, then switched to
diet? I imagine there would be an immediate decrease in weight gain - if so,
would it stick?

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dasil003
I think the quantities we consume of soda are frightening. It's so unlike
anything we are evolved to consume that it was the first thing I eliminated
from my diet when I started trying to eat healthier.

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gfunk911
Like with most things in the world, if you have no self-control or ability to
control your impulses, then life is going to be very difficult for you.

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tungstenfurnace
Many diets seem to be based on temporarily fooling the mind.

e.g. a meal that fills the stomach to capacity but with little calorific
content

Initially the dieter loses some weight. After a while, he notices that he
isn't deriving pleasure from the diet.

But because it seemed initially to work, word of the new diet spreads.

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geolyn99
I had switched to water only from diet soda because I thought it would help
clear up my acne. It didn't do anything for the acne but I did notice that I
was eating a lot less or rather less hungry. So I was kind of wondering if
there wasn't some kind of connection. Interesting to know.

