Perimenopause Weight Gain and Diet Soda

If you’re going through perimenopause and you are drinking a lot of diet soda, you may want to eliminate it from your diet. Research suggests that diet soda makes people gain weight, especially around the waist.

Perimenopause Weight Gain Causes

Drinking soda during menopause

Studies reveal the more diet soda a person drinks, the more likely she is to be overweight or obese. Women who are in perimenopause should be cautious about drinking diet soda and consider drinking water or other carbonated beverages like Perrier instead of artificially sweetened diet drinks.

At the University Of Texas Health Science Center, San Antonio a study was done that reviewed the data from 474 older adults. All the participants in the study saw their stomach size increase; however, those study participants who reported drinking diet soda saw an even bigger increase in their waists of 70 percent compared to those who did not drink diet soda, according to researchers.

What’s even more eye-opening is that the people in the study who drank two or more diet sodas every day had an increase of 500 percent compared to those who did not drink diet soda.

Researchers from the University of Texas reported that the results of the study were adjusted for factors such as diabetes, age and amount of activity. The duration of the study was nine years and six months.

In another University of Texas, San Antonio study, doctors followed the weight of 1550 men and women. The results revealed that in eight years 57 percent of those who drank two or more cans of diet soda every day had become overweight compared to 47 percent who drank non-diet drinks.

Perimenopause Weight Gain and Diet Soda

Women who are fighting extra pounds during perimenopause may choose diet soda over other types of non-diet drinks believing they’re saving calories, but in reality diet drinks with artificial sweeteners may be adding pounds instead of eliminating them. The worst part is women tend to gain weight around the abdomen during perimenopause, and research studies suggest diet soda drinkers gain a lot more weight in the stomach area compared to those who choose to avoid diet drinks.

Other studies about drinking diet soda reveal that people who drink the beverage each day are also more likely to have strokes and heart disease.

However, some people argue that the studies are flawed because people who are overweight in general may consume more diet soda compared to those who are in the normal BMI range, but until more research proves more conclusively that diet soda causes weight gain, it’s probably a good idea for people to avoid diet soda and other diet drinks that contain artificial sweeteners, especially women who are premenopausal or menopausal. There may also be other health problems related to diet soda which you can discuss with your doctor.