Are Diet Drinks Healthy? You have to know that

More and more consumers are opting for supposedly healthy diet drinks, assuming that they can help reduce weight. We'll tell you if that's really true.

Diet drinks are so healthy

Diet drinks have some advantages over their sugary alternatives, but that doesn't necessarily mean they're healthier or can actually help you lose weight.

• Many experts doubt that diet drinks can help you lose weight, for example because the sweet taste still stimulates your appetite.
• This sweet taste also plays a role in the diabetes risk of diet drinks, since it has the same effects on the body as conventional sugar: insulin is released, which can increase blood sugar in the long term.
• However, there is a catch to these theories: Any studies only show disease-causing effects if the artificially sweetened drinks are consumed to a high degree.
• It is also important for the classification of the diet drinks that the sweeteners are checked by the World Health Organization and similar institutions and rated as marketable.
• So if you only want to drink a delicious lemonade occasionally, diet drinks are a good alternative.
• "Light", "Zero" or "sugar-free" diet drinks sweetened with artificial sweeteners are not necessarily healthy - but they are still healthier than the sugar-containing variant.

These are diet drinks

Often referred to as "light", "sugar-free" or "diet", diet drinks are sold by soft drink manufacturers as a healthier alternative to the conventional variant because they use other sweeteners instead of sugar.

• Lemonades and soft drinks such as Cola, Pepsi, Fanta and Co are often full of sugar - up to 31 sugar cubes per liter. High sugar consumption is linked to diabetes, obesity and cardiovascular disorders.
• In order not to give up lemonade completely, more and more consumers are opting for the diet variant. The hope is mostly that these drinks are healthier and have less negative effects on weight.
• Instead of sugar, sugar-free diet drinks contain a low-calorie and mostly artificial sweetener.
• Particularly popular sweeteners are aspartame, saccharin and the vegetable sweetener stevia.