Diet drinks may compensate for the lack of calories by eating unhealthy foods

Tuesday 15 Sep 2015 - 12:09 Makkah mean time-2-12-1436

(Image from internet)

Illinois, US (IINA) – A new American study has found that people who drink diet drinks may compensate for the lack of calories by eating unhealthy foods, Mail Online health news reported.
People who drank diet drinks ate an average of 69 calories of extra sugary, fatty, salty or cholesterol-raising foods, the study found.
Therefore, switching to diet drinks may not help people trying to control their weight to slim down if they don't pay attention to the quantity and quality of the foods they consume, the researchers concluded.
The team, led by Dr Ruopeng An, of the University of Illinois, looked at data on the dietary habits of more than 22,000 US adults.
The data covers more than 10 years and forms part of the national health and nutrition examination survey, which asked people to recall everything they ate or drank over the course of two non-consecutive days.
It included their daily calorie intakes, including their consumption of food and five types of beverages - diet or sugar-free drinks; sugar-sweetened beverages, such as sodas and fruit drinks; coffee; tea; and alcohol.
Using a database from the US Department of Agriculture, Dr An compiled a list of 661 'discretionary foods' which includes those that do not belong to the major food groups and are not required by the human body, but may add variety to a person's diet.
These energy-dense, nutrient-poor foods include items such as cookies, ice cream, chocolate, fries and pastries.
More than 90 percent of the people in the study consumed discretionary foods daily, averaging about 482 calories from these products each day, Dr An found.
Although previous research on people's choice of drink and whether they eat discretionary foods focused on snacking in between meals, Dr An chose to look at the nutritional quality of the food participants consumed rather than when it was eaten.
Around 97 per cent of people in the study ate at least one of the five types of drinks daily.
Around 41 percent said they drank beverages from at least two of the categories, and more than 25 percent drank three or more types of drinks daily.
Coffee was the top beverage of choice, consumed by more than half - 53 percent - of people in the study.
This was followed by sugar-sweetened beverages 43 percent, tea (26 percent), alcohol 22 percent and diet beverages 21 percent.
Drinking alcohol led to the biggest increase in daily calorie intake, causing people to eat an extra 384 calories on average.
The link between consumption of beverages and how many calories a person eats in a day differed across different groups, the study revealed.
However, among people with the most education and highest incomes, diet beverages and alcohol were linked with increased calorie consumption.
Sugar-sweetened drinks and coffee were associated with the biggest increase in calories among people with the lowest incomes.
When he explored associations between beverage type and the quality of a person's diet, Dr An found that people who consumed sugar-sweetened beverages or coffee had the worst nutrition profiles.
Switching to diet drinks may not help people control their weight if they don't pay attention to the quantity and quality of the foods they consume, he concluded.
If people simply substitute sugar-sweetened beverages for diet beverages, it may not have the intended effect because they may just eat more calories, rather than drinking them, Dr An said.
He added, “We'd recommend that people carefully document their caloric intake from both beverages and discretionary foods because both of these add calories - and possibly weight - to the body.'
SM/IINA

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