Alcoholic drinks
and sugar-sweetened beverages are associated with higher overall
daily intakes,
although people who drink diet beverages consume a greater
percentage of non-nutritious food.
(September 11, 2015) Want
fries with that diet soda? You aren’t alone, and you may not be “saving” as
many calories as you think by consuming diet drinks.
A new study that examined the dietary habits of more than
22,000 U.S. adults found that diet-beverage consumers may compensate for the
absence of calories in their drinks by noshing on extra food that is loaded
with sugar, sodium, fat and cholesterol.
University of Illinois kinesiology and community health
professor Ruopeng An examined 10 years of data from the National Health and
Nutrition Examination Survey, conducted by the National Center for Health
Statistics, which asked participants to recall everything they ate or drank
over the course of two nonconsecutive days.
An compared participants’ daily calorie intakes, including
their consumption of discretionary foods and five types of beverages – diet or
sugar-free drinks; sugar-sweetened beverages, such as sodas and fruit drinks;
coffee; tea; and alcohol.