Dive Brief:
- Diet soda drinkers are more likely to consume "discretionary foods," or foods that are generally deemed to be unhealthy, such as cookies and French fries, according to a new study from a University of Illinois researcher, published in the Journal of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics.
- The study compiled data from 22,000 people's dietary choices over a decade and compared the eating habits for drinkers of five different beverage categories: diet or sugar-free drinks, sugar-sweetened beverages, coffee, tea, and alcohol.
- While diet soda drinkers tended to consume fewer calories in a day, more of those calories came from less nutrient-dense, high-calorie foods.
Dive Insight:
The hits keep on coming for diet soda, which has seen steady declines along with the rest of the soda industry. In the latest quarter, Diet Coke volumes dropped 7% after falling 6% the quarter before.
The reasons why people reach for both diet soda and cookies or French fries is unclear, but the study's researcher Ruopeng An has a few ideas.
"It may be that people who consume diet beverages feel justified in eating more, so they reach for a muffin or a bag of chips. Or perhaps, in order to feel satisfied, they feel compelled to eat more of these high-calorie foods," An said in a statement. An also said that consumers might choose diet beverages to balance out the guilt of eating unhealthy foods.
"It may be one – or a mix of – these mechanisms," An said in a statement. "We don’t know which way the compensation effect goes."