[00:00:00] Jenn Trepeck: Welcome to Salad with a side of Fries. I'm your host, Jenn Trepeck, talking wellness and weight loss for real life. We're here to clear up the myths, misinformation, bad science and marketing to teach you how to eat and how to cheat. Are you ready? I'm having salad with a side of fries. We're talking about zero calorie drinks, and there's a relatively well-known study out of Copenhagen that, so it was published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition in February, 2012.

[00:00:36] And I'll share with you what many people talk about when they referenced this study and talk about this study. And then I'll share my thoughts and some findings from seeking out the actual study, you know, as it was written up. So. As I've heard it discussed, they say it was a hundred normal individuals divided into four groups, and [00:01:00] then for six months, one group had a liter of sugary soda per day.

[00:01:04] I mean, they could drink other things, but they had to have a liter of sugar soda per day, and technically they called it cola. Another group had a liter of diet soda per day for six months. Third group had a liter of milk per day. Then the last group had a liter of water per day. So those are the four groups for six months.

[00:01:25] At the end of the six months, the group with the soda gained 10 kilos, which is about 22 pounds. The water group lost two kilos, which is about 4.4 pounds. The milk group saw no change at all. The Diet Soda Group. Jennifer, what do you think happened to the Diet Soda Group? They gained more weight than the regular soda group.

[00:01:51] No, that would be wild. You're right. So the, the Diet Soda Group gained two kilos or about 4.4 [00:02:00] pounds. Wow. So the question that everybody says is, well, why the diet soda? And this is an aspartame sweetened Cola has zero calories. Haven't we always been told that it's the calories that matter, right?

[00:02:17] Remember the old Eat less, move more? Yeah. Well, you know, if you're a long time listener of Salad with a side of fries, you know this isn't the case. If you've read Uncomplicating Wellness, you know this isn't the case. Still though, the question is what causes the issue? Like why is it that this zero calorie thing still creates this weight gain over time?

[00:02:37] So some experts talk about the microbiome disruption. That artificial sweeteners in the diet soda impact our gut bacteria. And this is true. We see this in a lot of research, actually came up in one of the questions from this week's episode. What's also likely and. You'll hear people talk about this is that [00:03:00] zero calorie drinks can still generate an insulin response.

[00:03:04] Now, we talked about this before. I think it was in one of our electrolytes, nutrition nuggets. Maybe it was IQ mix. I'll explain it a little bit here. You can go back to that episode. But essentially like sweet flavors on the tongue signal the brain. The brain then signals the pancreas to release insulin because a sweet flavor.

[00:03:24] Signals, this whole pathway, right? Then the insulin can signal the body to stop burning whatever it's burning as fuel and to focus on using glucose instead. Well, now what happens if we didn't eat anything or we don't necessarily have blood sugar or glucose right to burn the body. We'll attempt to prevent the blood sugar from dropping too low.

[00:03:48] Now, one thing could happen is that our blood sugar then starts to drop and we get a craving, or we get hungry and then we're eating. The other possibility is that it can signal you get a hormone called [00:04:00] glucagon, which then signals the liver to release its stored glucose. And now again, we're burning glucose instead of, you know, ideally fat as fuel.

[00:04:10] So we can still have an insulin response. Even from something that is zero calories and that insulin response is then creating what happens with our metabolic health. Right? What happens with burning fat or storing fat? And as we said, you know when insulin levels rise and then drop, right? We experience cravings.

[00:04:32] A lot of times it's sugar cravings because our body says I need fuel. And the fastest way to get fuel is something higher glycemic, something that's fast fuel, right? And that's sugar. So it can potentially have this group of people increasing their daily food intake. So where does this get us? Right? I agree with both of these answers.

[00:04:53] I love this study to help support the conversation of why calories aren't the whole story. [00:05:00] I also think there's another factor at play, which is that sweet is one of those acquired tastes, which means the more we have them, the more we want them and the more we have them. The sweeter something needs to be to register as sweet.

[00:05:16] And so even things that are. Zero calorie sweeteners can keep us addicted to that sweet taste, and that's real. And that can then further create more and more cravings for those sweet flavors. And. All of this, when I first heard it, I, it felt deeply validating, you know? Yeah. And because I feel like I experienced this myself and clients over the years, right, have experienced this too.

[00:05:46] Like I see this in practice all the time, and so before everybody is all up in arms, you know, about zero calorie drinks and calories still are the thing. You will also see studies that look at zero [00:06:00] calorie drinks and come to different conclusions. So hang with me for a second because I went to find the underlying study behind this 'cause I wanted us to be able to talk about it.

[00:06:12] Here's what's interesting because it's not quite exactly as everybody who talks about it says. So. Everybody who talks about it says it was a hundred people. Well, in the actual study that I found, it was six and they said a hundred normal quote unquote people. What I found it was 60 non-diabetic subjects with A BMI.

[00:06:34] Of 20 to 40, I believe, or 25 to 40, something like that. So based on the BMI charts, these people classified as overweight or obese. Now we have our own issues with BMI, but whatever 60, not a hundred non-diabetic, but qualifying by BMI as overweight or obese ages range from 20 to 50. The blood pressure had to be less than one 60 over a [00:07:00] hundred in order to qualify less, less than 1, 1 60 over a hundred, which is one over a hundred.

[00:07:06] Okay. Yeah. I mean, which is pretty high, frankly. You know? That's high. Yeah. Yeah. That's why I wanted you to clarify. Yeah, exactly. So from there, it seems like 47 subjects actually completed the study. It was a mix of male and female bodies. So that happens a lot where like you start up, some people don't comply or they drop out, or they don't do all the things that they were supposed to do in the study or whatever.

[00:07:30] But does that, doesn't that matter? Like, because everybody drank something different too. So does it say how many from each category dropped out? It does. Well, it shows you how many in each category stayed. Okay. Okay. You know, so 47 completed the study. It was a mix of male and female bodies, and they were randomly assigned to the groups.

[00:07:50] I will point out of the people who completed the study, they were not equally assigned to the four groups between men and women. I don't know if they were originally, but in those [00:08:00] who completed, they weren't. There were more men in the regular soda group and more women in the other three groups. The study's findings as they draw their conclusions were really more about focusing on the impact of the sugar soda drinks and their impact relative to the others.

[00:08:18] And this is where I think we start to see what you'll probably see other studies claim. And that is that the diet soda is so much better than the regular soda. Mm-hmm. Like other studies will say that D soda showed no change compared to the regular soda. Mm-hmm. So. It certainly depends on what markers you're focusing on.

[00:08:41] I also think this doesn't necessarily mean that the diet soda experience can be downplayed or ignored. Yeah. And the other piece, so there were more women in the Diet Soda Group and that made me wonder, again, given my experience and that with my [00:09:00] clients and that I see all the time. I wonder if this means that biologically female bodies are more susceptible to these artificial sweeteners in the cola.

[00:09:10] Like, I don't know. I'm fully asking new questions. You know, it's, I'm just looking at the data and sort of parsing through and making sense of it. You know, the data in the study essentially reflects what I've seen for people and myself for years when it comes to those diet drinks. Mm-hmm. I'll put a link to the actual study, you know, in the episode notes if anybody wants to, you know, take the time and read through it more and dig into it.

[00:09:37] You know, like I said, I think their original comparison was about the sugared soda versus the diet. The piece that I like to talk about it for and what all these experts talk about it for is that when we think about zero calorie drinks, we just wanna recognize that there is an impact of the ingredients that are there.

[00:09:59] [00:10:00] Because calories rarely tell us the whole story. Even with beverages, Jennifer, thoughts, questions.

[00:10:08] Jennifer: I find that very interesting and I, it makes me want to like figure more out about that study. Like how many women and men were in each category, how many of each dropped out, because I just realized there's a lot of factors that go along with that.

[00:10:20] Yeah. You know, and knowing that information, I, I feel like that you don't get a full picture while you're saying it. You've seen that support. Through what you do, and I trust that. I just, I would be interested in seeing like the whole picture and then also talking maybe with some of those people that were in the milk category, because that sounds terrible.

[00:10:38] Jenn Trepeck: Yeah. I am not a milk fan, I don't think. If I was assigned to that group, I would participate. I've been a dropout real fast. Exactly. Sorry. Exactly. Yeah. And also like why was milk the other thing that they chose, like, and also, which on a serious note, I found it interesting that there was no change. Like they just didn't gain or lose.

[00:10:59] Like there [00:11:00] was, they were a wash, which is very interesting because we went through. We grew up at a certain time. We went through like, you have to drink milk. You have to drink milk, right? And then they were like, whoa. Too much milk pulled back. Right? Milk is a weird thing. So yeah, I find that interesting.

[00:11:14] Yeah. I'll link to the study for anybody who wants to dig into it and see how many people were in each group and all that. Some of that stuff is just harder to do in audio. Yeah. You know? Yeah, for sure. So in however many minutes you wrap it up. Exactly. Exactly. Well, as always, everybody, I'm your host, Jenn Trepeck.

[00:11:31] Connect with me on Instagram or all social media. I am at Jenn Trepeck, J-E-N-N-T-R-E-P-E-C-K website is. A salad with the side of fries.com. Pick your platform, send a message. I truly love hearing from you, your takeaways, your ideas, your questions. It's also the easiest way to learn more about working with me as your health coach.

[00:11:50] Jennifer, thank you again for joining me for this one. Thank you. It was great. Had fun. And I learned a lot. Yay. That's the best. And of course, everybody, if you are not [00:12:00] already a member, I invite you to the Happy Healthy Hub. You'll go to a salad or the side of fries.com/membership. This shows you support for this podcast, this community.

[00:12:10] But most importantly, it supports your health. On top of access to the community board where we can interact, ask, and answer questions like this week's episode, and so much more. You get discounts, curated content. And then of course, this week's recipe for Burger Bowl. Well, friends, that's it for today's episode of Salad with a Side of Fries.

[00:12:29] Congratulations for making yourself and your health a priority. Thanks so much for joining us. Be sure to click subscribe or follow on your favorite podcast platform. Share us with a friend and we'll be back next week. Always remember you deserve it and you are worth it. Happy, healthy.