Is Diet Soda Your Secret Weapon at Work? Discover the Shocking Truth About Its Health Effects!

Drinking Diet Soda to feel fresh and motivated at work? Diet Soda addiction while working is real. Find out diet coke side effects on your heart, liver and brain. The consequences of drinking too much diet soda might shock you.

What Exactly is Diet Soda?

Diet soda is a beverage that is carbonated and similar to regular soda but has very little or zero natural sugar; instead, it contains artificial sweeteners. Besides these, the other ingredients are the same as regular soda. Diet soda is also called diet pop or zero-sugar drink. It has been launched as a healthier alternative to regular soda and targets customers trying to control their weight or diabetes, as it contains significantly fewer calories than regular soda.

Why are People Drinking Diet Soda at Work?

Diet soda contains artificial sweeteners like sucralose, aspartame, and saccharin. You won’t be able to mark the difference between a glass of regular soda and diet soda if both glasses are kept together. Similarly, our body cannot identify the difference between regular soda and diet soda. When we drink diet soda, our body perceives it as a real sugar and activates the pleasure centres of the brain. Intaking sugar lightens up your brain and makes you drink more of it. Diet soda also contains caffeine, which is addictive. Caffeine releases dopamine in the brain, making you feel good and motivated during work. 

Diet Soda Side Effects that Not Many Know Of

There are many side effects of drinking diet coke. It affects the heart, liver, brain and metabolic systems of the body. 

• Heart- If you drink two litres or more artificially sweetened beverages like diet soda each week, it triggers the risk of atrial fibrillation, which increases irregularity in the heartbeat by 20%. Atrial fibrillation causes a rapid pounding heartbeat, fatigue, dizziness, chest pain and palpitations. As a result, the risk of cardiovascular complications rises due to regular intake of diet soda. 
• Liver- Steatotic liver disease inception due to increasing body mass index is one of the diet coke side effects on the liver. Heavy consumption of diet soda can cause the development of glucose intolerance and fatty liver problems that are non-alcoholic.
• Brain- Continuous consumption of diet soda at work damages mental health by promoting depression and anxiety. Artificial sugar is directly linked with depression. The caffeine content of diet soda can have drastic implications on people suffering from anxiety.
• Metabolic system- The disadvantages of diet coke include killing of good bacteria in the gut, thus affecting the metabolism. A sudden increase in blood sugar and insulin levels is a diet coke side effect. This sudden spike causes type 2 diabetes.

Other Health Issues Caused by Diet Soda

Heavy diet soda intake is linked with numerous health issues besides problems related to the heart, liver, metabolism and brain. 

Diet soda consumption can cause tooth erosion. Taking sips from a diet soda can at work throughout the day can damage enamel severely due to the creation of an acidic environment inside of the mouth and make teeth prone to cavities.

The artificial sweeteners in diet soda can increase high-calorie cravings and damage metabolism by making the body wrongly calculate calories. Hence, the saying that diet soda helps with weight loss is just a myth. Rather, it can lead to weight gain. 

The caffeine present in diet soda makes it harder to fall asleep and stay asleep. Nutritionists suggest dropping the diet soda intake six to nine hours before bedtime.  

Bottom Line

Though people use diet soda as an energy-boosting beverage to stay motivated at work, there are many severe side effects that cause health issues.

You can drink healthier alternatives to stay motivated at work like coconut water, sparkling water, green tea, black tea, fruit juice, iced tea, and herbal tea.