Diet Soda: to drink or not to drink?

Ok, so in my last post I mentioned that Dr. Kristina Rother of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) was conducting a clinical research trial to investigate the effects of artificial sweeteners in diet soda.

I volunteered for this study because the researchers were looking for participants ages 12-25, with either Type 1 or Type 2 diabetes, as well as non-diabetics. I am getting paid for visiting the NIH twice - the first day was on June 27th and the second day was July 9th. Both days involved a few hours in a nice, comfy room where I drank some diet soda or mineral water and then had my blood drawn. The first day, I just drank mineral water, as a "control," to see how my body would react to something that was not artificially sweetened. Then on my second visit I had the diet soda.

There has been a lot in the news lately about the correlation between obesity and diet sodas. Some clinical studies have already shown that people who drink diet soda are more likely to be obese or overweight. Of course, as I learned in my AP Psychology class this year, correlation does not prove causation. Drinking diet soda may not neccesarily lead to weight gain, but the fact that the two are associated warrants further investigation.

Dr. Rother and her research team decided to do a study based on the finding that rats who recieved artificial sweeteners in combination with normal glucose from food had increased rates of glucose absorption.

This could apply to humans, especially those with diabetes, because it would mean that the carbs we eat in meals would have different effects on our blood sugar levels depending on whether we drank diet soda with meals or not.

Would you have a diet coke with that sandwich for lunch if it would cause your blood sugar to spike faster?

The conclusions drawn from this study may indeed beg that question.

To test this hypothesis, the doctors at NIH will run lab tests on the blood samples of both diabetic and non-diabetic participants in the study. If the theory is true, then tests will show increased insulin levels in people without diabetes, and show increased blood sugars in people with diabetes.