A new study conducted by the University of Colorado researchers has claimed that diet beverages are very beneficial for people to lose weight and these are even better than water.
CBS4 Health Specialist Kathy Walsh said their study has come up with findings that will certainly sound good to soda lovers who also want to drop some pounds. The study also refuted the belief that hunger is stimulated after having diet beverages. Instead, CU researchers concluded that drinking soda plays an important role in losing weight. The study was funded by beverage companies.
Dr. Jon Peters of the Anschutz Health and Wellness Center said what they found was really surprising as the long-speculated belief was proved wrong and diet beverages even performed better than water.
First report of the CU study came out in December 2012 when Kristi Norton was enrolled. A diet and exercise program was followed by Norton and 300 other study participants. The study saw two groups with one drinking zero-calorie beverages and the other strictly water. Norton was in the water only group.
Despite the fact that all of the drinks were calorie free, same amount of weight was not lost by the participants. The group that drank diet beverages actually performed better than the group drinking water only. Diet beverage group lost an average of 13 pounds in 12 weeks compared to an average of nine pounds in water only group.
"Perhaps it helps people not have to give up that little bit of pleasure in their life when they're otherwise trying to restrict their calories. I'd say diet sodas can be an effective tool in a weight loss program", said Peters.
The American Beverage Association funded the study but researchers made it clear that none of the association's member was involved in the study. So now, people might take up soda as part of their weight-loss regime.
