

Diet Soda Beats Water for Weight Loss, Industry-Funded Study Finds - givan
http://www.livescience.com/45889-diet-sodas-weight-loss-doubts.html

======
Thriptic
Ugh, I hate it when stories talk about studies and then don't link to them.
Link to study:

[http://consumermediallc.files.wordpress.com/2014/05/oby20737...](http://consumermediallc.files.wordpress.com/2014/05/oby20737.pdf)

Eh. The difference in weight loss was 1-2 kg over 12 weeks. That's incredibly
negligible. Moreover, while they monitored for exercise adherence, they didn't
measure dietary adherence at all; they didn't measure adherence to "study
drug" (were the people even drinking the recommended quantity of diet sodas /
water?); while they did take the diuretic effects of soda into account, they
didn't have a caffeine control which is an obvious potential contributor; and
it sounds like people may have been allowed to drink diet tea which could
introduce other confounding variables.

Most importantly, this is a link bait title for an observational study. At
best all you can say here is that drinking 24 ounces of diet soda per day
during a weight loss routine is correlated with slightly more weight loss, not
that nutrasweet / diet soda induces weight loss as the title implies.

~~~
phkahler
Let us not forget the downsides of the artificial sweeteners, and the
phosphoric acid in a lot of these drinks.

------
bprieto
It may be that people who drink diet soda consider it a treat, so they doesn't
indulge in other fattening treats. The people who drink plain water might
succumb more easily to temptation.

But we don't know it this is the case, because the people who did the study
probably just run to publish it the minute they got the results.

------
seeken
Not quite on topic, but back in 2004, I switched from sugar soda to diet soda
and lost 40 lbs. I didn't make any other changes at the time, and I did and do
continue to drink a lot of soda. So the idea that some people have that diet
soda cannot aid in weight loss is silly. Next time you see a fat person at the
store with 4 12 packs of sugared Mountain Dew, imagine them 40 lbs lighter
with 4 12 packs of diet Dr Pepper. That was me.

~~~
Someone
Why would anybody think that switching from sugared to artificially sweetened
drinks cannot help in weight loss? The question at hand is whether it helps as
good as switching to non-sweetened drinks.

~~~
streptomycin
_Why would anybody think that switching from sugared to artificially sweetened
drinks cannot help in weight loss?_

Because multiple prior studies have shown that. Switch from regular soda to
diet soda, and on average you end up eating more calories elsewhere to
compensate. Switch from regular soda to water, and that doesn't happen. The
human body is really complicated, and diet soda seems to mess with the systems
that govern how hungry we feel.

------
Tarang
The study was funded by The American Beverage Association so I'd assume it was
a bit like having a hammer and looking for nails

------
lclarkmichalek
Does anyone have an actual link to the study? I love a good ad-hominem as much
as the next guy, but being able to read the actual thing might be useful. As
far as I can tell, every single link on livescience.com leads to
livescience.com, which is hardly enlightening...

~~~
Someone
I guess it is
[http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/oby.20737/abstrac...](http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/oby.20737/abstract).
Clicking the PDF link gave me a PDF.

------
k-mcgrady
I can see how this might work. For example on a 'slow carb diet' a can of diet
soda per day is permitted. It has no sugar and people may consider it a treat
- i.e. it's better to have that and stave off cravings than to have a
chocolate bar.

------
bhouston
I don't think this is news or worth even discussing if it isn't a proper peer
reviewed neutral study. Rather this is more a PR exercise.

------
kitcar
Would be interesting to read the original paper, but it does makes some
logical sense that consuming laxatives would result in some water loss, and
therefore weight loss. (Some artificial sweeteners are laxatives).
Unfortunately it would not be the kind of weight loss most people are looking
to achieve.

------
616c
It's only a matter of time: Brawndo, it's what plants crave.

[http://www.avclub.com/article/emidiocracyems-brawndo-is-
now-...](http://www.avclub.com/article/emidiocracyems-brawndo-is-now-
available-in-a-drink-75314)

------
flazzarino
diet teas – AKA laxatives.

headline should read "diet soda + laxatives" beats water for weight loss

------
pyalot2
You've got to be kidding me...

------
ddorian43
Probably the study was done on hamplanets who's body has changed to process
diet-soda/mayo like water.

