A recent article in the Journal of the American Medical Association questions the health benefits of artificially sweetened beverages, such as diet soft drinks. While a myriad of health problems from overconsuming refined sugars, such as those found in regular sodas is well documented, their calorie free diet counterparts may also pose some health problems.

The problem lies in their sweetness and its effect on the complex pathways that regulate body weight. Overconsumption of hyper-intense artificial sweeteners may cause taste preferences to revert to an infantile state and decrease tolerance of complex flavors such as those found in vegetables. Also, since diet beverages contain no calories they may cause dissociation between sweet tastes and calorie content which could disrupt the pathways regulating hunger.

In rodent studies, artificial sweeteners when compared to glucose caused diminished calorie compensation ability, increased caloric intake, and increased body weight. Rodents also preferred saccharin solutions over cocaine, highlighting the potentially addictive nature of these sweeteners. Some studies in humans have also shown relationships between diet drink consumption and obesity, metabolic syndrome, and type-2 diabetes. However, further research needs to be conducted before these relationships can be considered causal.

Although further research is need to confirm the long term health effects of artificially sweetened beverages, their potential health hazards warrant reconsidering their consumption. The authors of the JAMA article conclude that for now diet drinks may best be considered an aid to transition from high-calorie sugar sweetened beverages, such as regular soda, to minimally sweetened beverages such as water, mineral waters, teas, and coffee (with out sugar of course).