Healthy Alternative? Diet Soda Linked to Wider Waistlines in Seniors

Contrary to popular perception, diet sodas are not healthier than regular soda, a new study finds.

According to The Huffington Post, the findings were made based on data from 749 adults older than 65 years who participated in the San Antonio Longitudinal Study. The study found that participants who regularly consumed diet soda noted their waistlines expanded 2.11 centimeters while those who drank regular soda saw an increase of 0.77 centimeters over 9.4 years. Participants who occasionally consumed diet soda reported their circumference increased by 1.83 centimeters.

Researchers said that the findings were alarming. The study blamed phosphoric acid which is present in both regular and diet soda in nearly equal amounts. The acid could affect gut microbes which can lead to changes in gut bacteria and cause waist weight gain.

However given that diet soda is viewed as healthier alternative to regular soda without the calories, it may be consumer in larger quantities leading to girth increase as narrated by the study.

Bigger waistlines are associated with increased risk of type 2 diabetes, cancer, cardiovascular diseases and other conditions that affect liver, gut and pancreas.

"In a striking dose-response relationship, increasing DSI was associated with escalating abdominal obesity, a potential pathway for cardiometabolic risk in this aging population," the study's researchers noted in the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society.