2. Artificial Sweetener Consumption
Many people with diabetes reach for diet drinks as a substitute for regular soda or juice because they assume that sugar-free beverages won’t raise their blood sugar. But artificial sweeteners may not be completely neutral; in fact, they may contribute to impaired glucose homeostasis.
While the research isn’t definitive, and most government and medical institutions maintain that most artificial sweeteners don’t affect blood sugar, some of the possible downsides could be more present when artificial sweeteners are consumed in large amounts.
For instance, if someone considers a sugar-free food or drink healthy, they may end up consuming excessive amounts of it. Or they may eat other high-carbohydrate foods because they think the diet drink doesn’t affect their total carbohydrate budget for the day.
It’s also possible that some noncaloric sweeteners called sugar alcohols, which include mannitol, sorbitol, and xylitol, can raise blood sugar levels and cause diarrhea, which can contribute to dehydration.
“If you drink a lot of diet soda, then you might want to cut back and see if it has an impact on your blood glucose,” says Patty Bonsignore, RN, CDCES, a nurse educator at the Joslin Diabetes Center in Boston. Keep things sugar-free by turning to water or seltzer as opposed to regular soda or juice.
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