Diet Drinks Declining Sales

A Coke advertisement defends the safety of its diet drinks.

The company is faced with declining sales of its sugary and non-sugary drinks has plans to educate the consumers about its diet drinks products particulary about the safety of artificial sweetener "aspartame." "The safety of aspartame is supported by more than 200 studies over the last 40 years," the ad assures consumers.

Sales of diet soft drinks are falling at a faster rate than regular soft drinks in the U.S., according to Beverage Digest. Last year, for example, sales volume for Coke fell 1%, while Diet Coke fell 3%. Pepsi fell 3.4%, while Diet Pepsi fell 6.2%.

The decline in sales is because of negative news about these artificial sweeteners and that no-calorie sweeteners may not help your diet and instead could boost your risk for diabetes, heart disease and extra pounds.

The Food and Drug Administration approved six non-nutritive sweeteners for use in foods and drinks:

aspartame - NutraSweet, Equal
sucralose - Splenda, Nevella
acesulfame potassium - Sunett, Sweet One
saccharin - Sweet'N Low, Sugar Twin
rebaudioside A (stevia extract) - Truvia, PureVia
neotame - used in commercial food products

Despite being approved by FDA everynow and then a research pop-up about the dangers of these sweeteners. The latest study say that artificially sweetened drinks are associated with weight gain in adults and teens, and raise risk for diabetes, high blood pressure and heart disease.

Their reason why artificial sweeteners may trigger weight gain is that if you are given a brownie made with artificial sweetener you are more likely to eat two or three brownies simply because you do not feel they are as bad for you. Sugar-free foods still contain calories in the form of carbohydrates, protein, and or fat. Certain studies have shown that the caloric consumption of foods sweetened with artificial sweetener is similar to that of foods sweetened with sugar, meaning you will not be cutting calories by simply switching to artificial sweetener.

Another thing is compensation, people tend to justify rewarding themself a second slice of pie because you've eliminated hundreds of calories by choosing diet beverages.

Another research says artificial sweeteners flood your taste buds with sweet flavors but don't give your satisfaction centers in your brain the way real sweets do which cause cravings to build.

Artificial sweeteners also may increase your body's response to real sugars and carbohydrates that spike the levels of blood sugar that link them to metabolic syndrome, prediabetes and diabetes. But there are still no slam dunk research that can directly link artificial sweeteners to weight gain, risk for diabetes, high blood pressure and heart disease.