Zero-calorie drinks may be doing you more harm than good

These zero-calorie drinks may be doing you more harm than good and it seems choosing diet drinks is absolutely useless.

What are diet drinks?
Diet drinks are sweetened with artificial sweeteners like aspartame, cyclamate, saccharin, acesulfame-k or sucralose, instead of sugar.

Here are six reasons to ditch diet colas:

Metabolic Syndrome
In a study published in the journal Circulation in 2008, drinking artificially sweetened beverages was associated with a 34 per cent greater risk of developing the metabolic syndrome. And eventually a greater risk of heart disease.

Diet Soda is linked to Depression
In a study of 263,925 adults aged 51-70, individuals who drank soda were 30 per cent more likely to be diagnosed with depression over a period of 10 years. The link was stronger for diet soda than regular soda.

Type II Diabetes in females
Data analysis from two large Harvard studies revealed that diet drinks raised diabetes risk in women, but not men. The association between diet soda and diabetes is very strong, especially in women. One study showed more than a doubling in risk.

Diet soda is also associated with preterm delivery
In a study of 59,334 pregnant women in Denmark, 1 serving per day of diet drinks was associated with a 38 per cent increased risk of preterm delivery. 4 servings per day increased the risk by 78 per cent.

Obesity
The main reason people switch to diet drinks is to cut back on calories to lose weight. Sadly, it doesn't seem to work. Researchers from the University of Texas found that over the course of about a decade, diet soda drinkers had a 70 per cent greater increase in waist circumference compared with non-drinkers.

No reason to smile!
Biggest put-off could be that diet drinks lead to dental erosion over time. The citric acid in diet drinks weakens and destroys tooth enamel.

There are enough reasons for you to give up Diet soda today. If it's the fizz you crave, try sparkling water.

With inputs from authoritynutrition.com