Hi everybody I'm Monica Reinagel, the nutrition diva here with your quick and dirty tips for eating well and feeling fabulous.

People often ask my opinion about diet sodas. Many see them as a harmless substitute for sugar-sweetened

beverages. Others are deeply distrustful of the artificial sweeteners they contain.

And there are plenty of scary rumors circulating on the internet

to bolster these suspicions.

Although I've discussed the pros and cons of sugar substitutes

in the

past,

in particular regarding Asper tame,

which is marketed under the brand names

equal and Nutri-suite,

and is the sweetener that's most commonly used in diet sodas.

The research on artificial sweeteners and how they affect things like appetite, metabolism,

and body weight continues to be all over the map, contradictory and inconclusive.

Now there is little doubt that diet soda drinkers are more likely to be overweight, but as I never tire of repeating, correlation is not causation.

It's very likely that they are drinking diet soda because they are overweight and not the other way around.

Even so, it doesn't seem to be helping.

Because the more diet soda you drink, the more likely you are to gain more weight.

But why would a calorie-free beverage cause you to gain weight?

Some, but not all, research suggests that artificial sweeteners could increase your appetite or mess up your body's

built-in mechanisms for regulating calorie intake.

Or perhaps ordering a diet soda with their meal lulls people into thinking that they can afford the extra large fries.

...