Expert Explains What Happens To Your Body One Hour After Drinking A Can Of Diet Coke

It’s widely known that sodas are loaded with sugar, and that sugar isn’t great for your health.

But what might get overlooked are the additives found in diet sodas, which don’t contain sugar but still need to taste sweet.

What Gives Diet Soda Its Sweet Taste?

Most diet sodas, like Diet Coke, use an artificial sweetener called aspartame to achieve their sweetness.

Aspartame is 200 times sweeter than sucrose, which is the regular sugar you’re more familiar with.

While some might not be familiar with the names of food additives, it’s important to understand that aspartame is one of the more commonly used artificial sweeteners.

Expert Insight: Ella Allred on Aspartame’s Risks

Ella Allred, a technical nutritionist at NutriCentre (a company that specializes in health foods and supplements), has shed light on some of the potential risks that come with consuming aspartame.

The main concern Allred highlights is how your body reacts when you drink diet soda.

She explains that even though there’s no sugar in the soda, your body gets tricked into thinking it has consumed sugar, and it reacts accordingly.

According to Allred, this can increase your risk of health issues like diabetes.

Why? Because your body starts producing insulin as soon as it tastes the sweetness, even though it doesn’t actually need to.

Allred told The Daily Mail that “as soon as you taste the sweetness of Diet Coke, your body prepares for the sugar load and causes your pancreas to release insulin.”

Diet sodas don't have sugar, but they do have sweetener Peter Dazeley / Getty

This insulin release has consequences. As Allred explained: “The insulin surge decreases the pancreas's sensitivity to insulin, putting you at risk of developing diabetes type 2.

“The insulin triggers your body to store fat around your middle and increases your risk of developing heart disease.”

The Domino Effect on Your Body

About 20 minutes after drinking a diet soda, your body releases all that insulin into your bloodstream.

Allred said, "Now you have a lot of insulin in your bloodstream, pulling all of your available blood sugar into your cells, leaving you with a massive sugar low. You then need sugar in your blood to maintain equilibrium."

This leads to cravings for more sweetness. And if you’re not careful, you might find yourself reaching for another Diet Coke, starting the whole cycle over again.

By the time you hit 40 minutes after drinking the soda, Allred suggests that you could even be at risk of developing an ‘addiction’, as the soda triggers the brain’s reward centers.

After a full hour, your body still craves more, thinking it’s had sugar when, in reality, it hasn’t.

Aspartame: Used Everywhere

Aspartame isn’t just found in sodas. It’s also used in a wide range of products, even including toothpaste.

There have been many studies about the health risks tied to aspartame, but the overall findings vary.

It's pretty common knowledge that soda is bad for you Virojt Changyencham / Getty

What Does the WHO Say?

The World Health Organization (WHO) has weighed in on aspartame.

According to a study conducted by WHO, while there are some health risks linked to the sweetener, you would have to drink a considerable amount of soda to exceed the recommended daily intake.

WHO advises that the acceptable daily intake of aspartame is 0–40 mg per kilogram of body weight.

The WHO says that "an adult weighing 70kg would need to consume more than 9–14 cans per day to exceed the acceptable daily intake, assuming no other intake from other food sources."

So, what’s the takeaway? Like most things, moderation is important.

Aspartame might pose some risks, but if you’re not overdoing it, it’s unlikely to be a major issue.