More on Diet Sodas

Are diet sodas part of your regular beverage intake? You may want to think again. Turns out that a study of diet soda consumption by San Diego State University has shown diminishing activation in a specific region of the brain as consumption of diet sodas climbed. This region, the caudate head, is associated with the brain’s food motivation and reward system. Decreased activation of this brain region has been linked with an elevated risk of obesity. Normally, the brain uses a learned relationship between sweet taste and the delivery of calories to help it regulate food intake but it appears that saccharin and other sugar-free sweeteners seem to baffle the brain. Once fooled, the brain’s sweet sensors seem to lose some ability to provide a reliable evaluation of energy consumption and may paradoxically foster overeating.