London: A new study has found that fizzy diet drinks, which are sold with a low-calorie tag, actually have adverse effects on health and leads to obesity.
The research conducted by University of Texas Health Science Centre in San Antonio revealed that drinks that were packed with artificial sweeteners were directly linked to abdominal obesity in adults over 65.
The researchers observed that the waist size of those who regularly consumed diet fizzy drinks increased by an average 3.16 inches over 9 years that was 3 times more than those who avoided theses drinks.
Sharon Fowler, lead author of the study, said that calorie-free labels did not promise for being consequence-free, and Alison Tedstone, chief nutritionist at Public Health England, concluded that swapping full sugar drinks for diet drinks could be helpful.
The study is published in the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society.