Dr. Mike Israetel, a thriving force in the fitness community, implements a science-based approach to exercise and nutrition. In his latest offering, he examined the relationship of diet soda with weight gain and backed up his claims using recent studies and research.
Championing the highly successful Renaissance Periodization YouTube channel, Israetel’s blend of humor and science-backed research has turned him into a powerful voice online. Having collaborated with esteemed professionals such as natural bodybuilder/powerlifter Jeff Nippard and ‘The Hypertrophy Specialist,’ Dr. Brad Schoenfeld, Israetel’s command over scientific literature makes him a treasure for anyone seeking gains.
Venture into any gas station or grocery store and you’ll quickly see stocked shelves of beverages, particularly diet sodas, which have been glamorized as healthier alternatives to regular pop. These drink mixtures almost always incorporate artificial sweeteners, and today, Israetel examined whether or not these products contribute to unhealthy weight gain.
Exercise Scientist Dr. Mike Israetel Says Studies Reflect That Diet Soda Does Not Directly Cause Weight Gain
In experimental studies, Israetel revealed that diet soda with no calories did not contribute to weight gain. Conversely, it ‘contributed well’ to a calorie deficit and led to people losing more weight.
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“First, people who say diet soda makes you fat generally have a lack of familiarity with direct research. Studies that actually assign one group of people a diet soda drink, another group of people water to drink, and maybe there are other studies that have just regular soda to drink show that diet soda, as predicted has no calories, and does not create a calorie surplus, contributes well to a calorie deficit and leads to weight loss in direct experimental studies exactly as you would predict if it had no calories and no actual effect on fat gain.”
Even though data supports that overweight people consume diet soda more than their lighter counterparts, Israetel explains that this is because they are actively seeking measures to lose weight.
“There’s lots of correlational data that says fat people on average drink more diet soda than non-fat people. And people go correlation implies causation and thus it’s the diet soda making fat people fat,” said Mike Israetel.
“Fat people drink more diet soda, wait, I almost answered the question just by asking it, because they think they are fat and they are trying to diet. Regular ass people drink regular soda because they don’t have a weight problem.”
As for those who question artificial sweeteners in diet sodas, Israetel contends that people assume they are poor for their health because they are not naturally occurring.
“There’s a lot of folk wisdom quote unquote that was just never vetted so the example that artificial sweeteners are bad for you and must make you fat is an example of the argument from the nature fallacy it’s actually documented as an informal logical fallacy, the idea that natural things are categorically good for you and artificial things are categorically bad for you is categorically wrong. It’s not categorically wrong, sometimes natural things are good for you. Apples, sunshine,” says exercise scientist Dr. Mike Israetel.
Israetel also called out ‘charlatan doctor’ influencers who make up information to scare consumers into buying their products.
“Charlatan doctor influencers, Dr. Gundry, who is a fucking liar, Dr. Axe, who is pretty good looking, but a fucking liar, Dr. Oz, who is very good looking but a huge fucking liar.
These people just make stuff up to scare you so you believe things and buy their stupid herbal supplements and they get rich and you don’t and you just lose your money.”
From diet to exercise, Dr. Mike Israetel always brings an enlightening point of view to the table. He recently offered his top ten exercises that men should perform for muscle growth. His choices came after an array of other big names in fitness gave their respective lists, such as Stan Efferding, Nick Walker, and Chris Bumstead.
Dr. Mike Israetel continues to offer zero-cost-to-consumer information that can help anyone aiming to better their health. For now, it appears diet soda gets a pass from Israetel, who concluded that it does not directly cause weight gain.
Watch the full video from the Renaissance Periodization YouTube channel below:
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