Diet Drinks No More Effective at Promoting Weight Loss

Jakarta (ANTARA) – Diet drinks do not provide a significant weight-loss benefit compared with water for adults with overweight or obesity, according to new research by the University of Liverpool in the United Kingdom.

According to Eating Well on Saturday (10 October), the findings came from the SWITCH trial, which involved 493 adults over 104 weeks. Participants were randomly assigned to drink either water or diet drinks containing non-nutritive sweeteners such as aspartame, acesulfame-K or sucralose.

The diet-drink group lost an average of 4.8 kilograms, while the water group lost 3.7 kilograms. However, the difference was not statistically significant. Both groups also saw similar improvements in waist and hip measurements, body composition, blood pressure and cholesterol.

“These findings suggest that concerns that sweeteners interfere with appetite or cause weight gain are not supported when tested in a rigorous, long-term randomised trial,” Harrold said.

The researchers hope the results will inform the World Health Organization (WHO) as it develops public health guidance and policy.

All participants also took part in a structured weight-management programme, so the results may not reflect diet-drink consumption in everyday life. The study was also not designed to assess the long-term effects of artificial sweeteners on liver health, the gut microbiome or cardiovascular disease risk.

Diet drinks may therefore be an alternative for reducing sugar consumption, but this study found no significant advantage over water for weight loss.