Here's Why Diet Soda Makes You Fat (so just skip it)

You’ve likely heard by now that diet soda makes you fat (or fatter than no soda at all), but scientists finally figured out why.

If you’re thinking about passing a giant bottle of Diet Coke around the holiday table this week, think again — it’s been totally confirmed by the good people of science and medicine that diet soda makes you fat, and there’s real chemical evidence to back that up.

It turns out it’s the aspartame in diet soda that makes it a generally bad choice for your health. A recent study published by a team of investigative scientists at Massachusetts General Hospital found the likely reason that aspartame actually interferes with weight loss instead of aiding it. By the way, if you’re a diehard Diet Coke person, now’s the time to look away — you probably don’t want to read that science just nailed shut the “diet soda makes you fat” coffin.

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The study’s lead author explained “Sugar substitutes like aspartame are designed to promote weight loss and decrease the incidence of metabolic syndrome, but a number of clinical and epidemiologic studies have suggested that these products don’t work very well and may actually make things worse.” He went on to show that artificial sweeteners, like those found in most diet sodas, actually inhibit intestinal alkaline phosphatase (IAP), otherwise known as the digestive enzyme that is believed to prevent obesity.

What does all this boil down to? While nobody can 100% say that diet soda makes you fat right now, it’s pretty fair to say it won’t actually help you lose weight or keep it off. Basically, the whole diet soda industry is a scam.