If you are like tens of millions of busy Americans, chances are you start off your day not with a traditional healthy breakfast but instead with a quick can of Diet Coke. Diet soft drinks don't contain calories, sugars, or fat, but they are not necessarily helpful for good health, especially if you have type 2 diabetes.
Diet Colas and the Diabetic Brain
The special problem with sugar-free drinks for diabetics is that all the body's taste receptors are not the tongue. We are consciously aware of sweet tastes when sweet substances touch our tongue, but the pancreas has its own taste receptors. The sensation of sweet taste in the stomach itself triggers a sequence of events in the pancreas that releases insulin. The brain sends a reinforcing response of its own, to make sure there is more insulin in circulation when any sweet food or drink is tasted, even if it is not swallowed.
But Isn't More Insulin a Good Thing?
Since insulin lowers blood sugar levels and diabetics usually have blood sugar levels that are too high, it would almost seem that releasing insulin would be a good thing. The problem is timing.
At least in the early stages of their disease, most type 2 diabetics actually make all the insulin their bodies need. They just don't release it at the right time. The pancreas has trouble making the enzymes it needs to "unzip" stored insulin to cover rapid increases in blood sugar levels that occur 90 minutes to two hours after eating a meal. Blood sugar levels go up after every meal, although they may normalize during the night.
Diet drinks cause the pancreas to do the work of releasing insulin before there is even any sugar to be stored. This means there won't be enough insulin when food is actually eaten. If the zero-calorie sweetened beverage is drunk at mealtime, this may not be a big problem. But diabetics who drink sodas between meals deplete their already-limited insulin reserves. There is one other problem.
How Diet Sodas Make Diabetics Fat
Insulin doesn't just store sugar. It also transports fatty acids into fat cells. When diabetes indulge in diet drinks between meals, the extra insulin stimulated by the beverage is ready and waiting to make fat cells fatter.
Type 2 diabetics should just say no to diet sodas. They should say no to sugar-sweetened soft drinks, too. The best beverage for any type 2 diabetic is always water. And if you just have to have a fizzy drink, try mineral water. You can add small, measured amounts of fruit syrups to mineral water to make tasty, bubbly beverage that won't interfere with insulin release and won't make you fat.
Sources:
- Ford HE, Peters V, Martin NM, Sleeth ML, Ghatei MA, Frost GS, Bloom SR. Effects of oral ingestion of sucralose on gut hormone response and appetite in healthy normal-weight subjects.Eur J Clin Nutr. 2011 Apr;65(4):508-13. Epub 2011 Jan 19.
- Steinert RE, Frey F, Töpfer A, Drewe J, Beglinger C.Effects of carbohydrate sugars and artificial sweeteners on appetite and the secretion of gastrointestinal satiety peptides. Br J Nutr. 2011 May;105(9):1320-8. Epub 2011 Jan 24.
Disclaimer: The information contained in this article is for educational purposes only and should not be used for diagnosis or to guide treatment without the opinion of a health professional. Any reader who is concerned about his or her health should contact a doctor for advice.
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