Many people think because the word DIET is attached to a product it is healthy. Which would seam to make perfect sense. However that may not be the case all the time, especially when including diet sodas into your diet, as a weight loss regimen.
Some studies have shown that aspartame, the artificial sweetener in diet sodas, can actually cause your appetite to increase, and leave you still feeling hungry after meals. The best way to see if your body is having this reaction to diet drinks is by paying close attention to your portion sizes when including a diet coke with your meal. If you feel after eating a well balanced meal and a diet drink you are still hungry try substituting water for the diet soda. Also try avoiding substituting a meal for a diet soda thinking that it is meant to suppress your appetite. That will only cause you to over eat at your next meal with or without a diet soda.
Aspartame is still a relatively new product on the market, so it's long term effects on the human body have not been studied over a long enough period of time. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has noted some possible, but uncommon, neurological side effects of aspartame in people, such as headaches, hallucinations, panic attacks, dizziness, and mood swings, however their link to aspartame remains unclear. In the 1950's, saccharin exploded onto the U.S. markets as a sugar substitute with few calories and great taste. But then thirty years later in the 1980s, scientists realized that saccharin is actually a carcinogen. So if you may want to avoid artificial sweeteners all together until more studies can prove the true long term effects on the human body.
Hugs ~ Pilar