Alcohol is worse for health/dieting than a diet soda.
If you are to compare alcohol and soft drinks from a nutrition point of view then alcohol is easily your winner as soft drinks have absolutely no nutritional value with processed sugar being one of the major components.
When you choose a sugary soda instead of alcohol every day, you may think you're doing your liver a favor. But that daily soft drink can be harmful, especially to your liver — as damaging as alcohol can be. Once it reaches the liver, the sugar in beverages can get converted into fat that's stored in liver cells.
Beer has zero grams of sugar while sodas could have forty or more in each can. If we are counting calories and sugar, I would say someone who drinks two beers a day is much less likely to get a beer belly at the same rate as someone who drinks two sodas a day.
Drinking a reasonable amount of diet soda a day, such as a can or two, isn't likely to hurt you. The artificial sweeteners and other chemicals currently used in diet soda are safe for most people, and there's no credible evidence that these ingredients cause cancer.
A potential culprit for that protruding belly can be diet soda or beverages with artificial sweeteners. One recent study shows a link between the high consumption of diet drinks and the increase of belly fat in older adults.
Diet soda may prompt food cravings, especially in women and people with obesity. Drinking artificially sweetened diet sodas may lead to increase in appetite and weight gain, research finds.
Additives such as citric, malic, and phosphorus acid are present in both coke and coke zero, and have been linked to tooth erosion. Some research has also linked diet sodas to health conditions such as the increased risk of high blood pressure, osteoporosis, and heart and kidney disease.
There are very few differences between Diet Coke and Coke Zero. As such, there is no concrete, measurable reason to suggest that one is superior to the other. Nutritionally, there are no significant differences. Their ingredient and caffeine contents are similar as well, so neither is healthier than the other.
"Hard liquor contains more alcohol than beer or wine, making it more dangerous for your liver," continues Coleman. "A single shot of 80-proof hard liquor contains about 15 grams of alcohol and most shots contain even more alcohol than this." Another alcoholic beverage also takes a considerable toll on your liver.
However, if you are going to drink, having red wine in moderation is a healthier choice than other alcoholic drinks. This is due to its high levels of antioxidants called polyphenols, which have been linked to better heart and gut health.
There is no safe amount of alcohol for people with any type of alcoholic liver disease. Is one kind of alcohol safer than another? No. The amount of alcohol you drink is important, not the kind of alcohol you drink.
According to US health experts, sugar is as damaging and addictive as alcohol or tobacco and should be regulated.
Sugar alcohols are about 25–100% as sweet as sugar, but they're lower in calories and don't have the same negative effects as regular sugar, such as promoting tooth decay and significantly raising blood sugar levels ( 2 ).
The caffeine, which can be a diuretic, will actually make you need to urinate more quickly, and you'll lose more fluid. The myth implies that drinking soda is actually worse than not drinking anything at all. So what's the truth? Soda isn't dehydrating.
Both sugar and artificial sweetener are addictive. But artificial sweeteners may be likelier to make you get hungry, eat more throughout the day and develop diabetes. Sugar is OK in limited amounts and in the context of a healthy diet. (Eating a cookie you've made yourself is fine.
For most people living with diabetes, sugar-free sodas are safe in moderation. Resist the urge to pair something sweet or high in calories with that no-calorie beverage.
Drinking soda on a consistent basis has been known to lead to an increase in the risk of weight gain and certain diseases, and research shows that it can even affect your body on a cellular level. All of these components contribute to unhealthier, more rapid aging.
Diet Coke is addictive in nature for its two main ingredients: aspartame and caffeine (it contains 46mg per can — about one-third of the amount found in a same-sized cup of coffee). The combination of the sweetness from aspartame and the jolt of the stimulant make drinkers crave it.
Are you looking for a way to lose abdominal fat? Patrick Friedli, MD, the medical director of Munson's Healthy Weight Center, may have one of the simplest ways to shed a few pounds: Eliminate sugary beverages from your diet. Yes, that means you should quit drinking pop.
“Cutting soda out of your diet not only lowers your risk for weight gain, but may help you actually lose weight as well,” says Dr. Rodriguez-Lopez.
If you're trying to lose weight, soda is not your best beverage choice. Regular soda is high in sugar and calories and studies show that diet soda might not be great to gulp down either, despite the fact that it has 0 calories.
Drinking excessive amounts of diet soda can sometimes affect the lining of the stomach. “Over time, it can get irritated from the carbonation,” Valdez says. Heavy soda drinkers frequently develop indigestion, bloating and heartburn. Plus, carbonated drinks are a known trigger of acid reflux.