US Study Finds Diet Soft Drinks are Better for Weight Loss Than Water

A study from the University of Colorado in the USA has made a controversial new breakthrough. They carried out a study that found diet soft drinks are better at helping people lose weight than water.
The study was undertaken over 12 weeks, and used two groups of participants. All participants were put on a lower than normal calorie diet, supposedly eating only 1,800 calories a day. The only difference between the two is that one group drank only water, while the other group drank two diet soft drinks per day.
On average, the water group lost 9lbs, whereas the diet soft drink group lost an average of 13lbs.
The effectiveness of diet soft drinks has long been contested, and it is thought that they might interfere with weight loss. The low sugar aspect of them is often made up with sweeteners and other chemicals which, some feel, are just as unhealthy.
However, the evidence put forward by this study suggests this isn’t the case, at least when it comes to direct weight loss. Theories behind the unexpected difference include that fizzy drinks are simply more satisfying and filling, leaving the participants who drank them fuller and happier for longer, whereas the water group may have made up for the ‘boring’ drink more snacks and fattier foods.
The study is controversial however as it was funded by the American Beverage Association, and so sceptics are calling the results into question. However, the researchers insist that the study was legitimate and carried out independently. Either way, there will have to be more wide-scale studies done before there will be a definite answer, as the small sample size and time of the study mean that the results could be unreliable.