A new study published in the Journal of the American Geriatrics society found that people who drink diet soda earn almost triple the abdominal fat and gain weight, over nine years, more than those who did not drink diet soda.

 Analysis of the study data for 749 people who drank diet soda and had weight gain, aged 65 and older who were asked, every couple of years, how many soda cans they drank on, and how many of the soda was diet or regular.

 Results showed increased abdominal fat, even after the researchers adapted to factors such as diabetes, smoking and levels of physical activity. People who did not drink diet soda gained about 2 cm on their waist circumference during the period of study. People who drank diet soda had average 8 cm and those who fell in the middle (occasional drinkers of diet soda) earns about 4.5cm.

 The change in waist circumference , especially because it is an unfortunate fact that focuses on the distribution of weight : the abdominal is a bad place for extra pounds. The visceral fat(the internetal kind) is associated with increased cardiovascular disease , inflammation and type 2 diabetes.

 These results, which the study authors call “striking,” add to the growing body of evidence that no- and low-calorie sweeteners may come with health concerns. Though scientists are still puzzling through the mechanisms by which diet soda seems to have the unintended consequence of weight gain, they have some ideas. Sugar-free sodas contain substances that sweeten up soda at 200-600 times the sweetness of sugar.

 “Regular sugar has caloric consequences,” says the study’s senior author Dr. Helen Hazuda, professor of medicine at the University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio. And one of those is that it triggers satiety — a sense of fullness or satisfaction. “Your body is used to knowing that a sweet taste means you are ingesting energy in the form of calories that, if you don’t burn them off, is going to convert to fat,” she says. Artificial sweeteners, however, confuse our bodies and weaken the link in our brains between sweetness and calories. That, Hazuda says, can lead to weight gain and cravings for sweeter and sweeter treats.

 There may be something else at work. A recent study in mice showed that artificial sweeteners actually changed the gut bacteria of mice in ways that made them vulnerable to insulin resistance and glucose intolerance — both of which can lead to weight gain. And other mice research suggests that artificial sweeteners are associated with a drop in the appetite-regulating hormone leptin, Hazuda says. Leptin is the hormone that inhibits hunger.

 The Calorie Control Council, an association that represents the reduced-calorie food and beverage industry — including alternative sweeteners — disagreed with the study’s findings. “The use of low-calorie sweeteners (LCSs) in weight management has been shown to be beneficial,” the group said in a statement. “While approaches to treat obesity in older individuals is controversial, diet modifications can be a successful part of a weight-management program for older adults.”

 Researchers in the new study found that belly-fat gain was most pronounced in people who were already overweight. “People who are already at cardiometabolic risk because they have higher BMIs are really in double or triple jeopardy,” Hazuda says. “When they think they’re doing something good by drinking artificially sweetened beverages, it’s actually totally counterproductive.”

 Still drinking diet despite the evidence? Perhaps you should drink more water! Or follow a diet like this one…. Tell us your plan….