Diet Soda or Regular Soda?

Soda is everyone's favorite drink and most people don't just drink a 12 oz can but rather have 3 times or more that amount every day! People seem to think that because soda has no fat it won't make YOU fat but this isn't true at all. Soda is very high in calories and sugar, which are forms of energy, and the energy that we don't use we store as fat. According to the Harvard School of Public Health website (http://www.hsph.harvard.edu/nutritionsource/healthy-drinks/sugary-vs-diet-drinks/) the majority of studies indicate a positive correlation between high soda intake and weight gain. Studies also show strong evidence that  people who drink soda are more likely to have diabetes, heart disease, and metabolic syndrome. Most of you are probably thinking that people who drink a lot of soda probably have other unhealthy eating habits and this is what causes the adverse health effects, but this is not the case. In the Nurses' health study the health of 90,000 women was observed for over 20 years and researchers found that women who drank soda but otherwise had healthy diets were still more likely to have a heart attack than women who abstained from soda.
So we can all agree that soda is probably not the healthiest drink of choice but what about diet soda? Well it has no sugar, calories or carbs but does that make it better? Studies show differing results when it comes to weight and soda. Many studies show that when diet soda is drank rather than regular soda participants experienced weight loss. However, there are some studies where people actually gained weight drinking diet soda. Researchers believe the cause for this weight gain was due to the palate not being satisfied by the diet soda and so participants end up consuming more calories to obtain satiety.
The best thing for your health is to practice moderation with both these beverages as you would with anything else in life. If you have to satisfy that sweet tooth why not have a favorite 100% juice instead?