You stop at the McDonalds drive-thru and ask yourself "Should I have a Coke or stick to my diet and have a Diet Coke" ; well, if you actually look at the ingredients you will see that diet is not the way to go. Contrary to popular belief, the alternative drink is not really useful for your diet after many years of research. Although you would save calories, the drink provides no nutritional value. Coca-Cola is now preferred over dieting as it causes weight gain, fatal diseases and many health problems. Of course, all Coca-Cola, Pepsi, etc. the average coke drinker. Since diet drinks contain artificial sweeteners instead of regular sugar, our bodies think they're getting regular sugars. Diet Coke tricks your body into thinking sugar is coming and your body pumps out insulin, a fat-storing hormone, which ultimately causes consumers to have more belly fat than a regular Coke drinker. . Additionally, diet drinks disrupt your body and its metabolism and as a result, you burn fewer calories than normal. In a study where rats were given Diet Coke and even after eating fewer calories, Diet Coke drinkers accumulated 14% more body fat than rats who drank regular Coke. You never thought you'd hear the words "deadly" and "Diet Coke." together, right? According to an 11-year study by Harvard Medical School, “in more than 3,000 women, researchers found that diet cola is associated with a twice the risk of kidney decline. Gibson 2Kidney function began to decline when women drank more than two sodas per day. Even more interesting: since kidney decline is not associated with sugar...... middle of paper ...... other ingredients fall far short of helping you when it comes to weight loss. Weight gain, life-threatening illnesses and health problems are the many factors that accompany the consumption of diet drinks. Works Cited Mosbergen, Dominique. “Health Risks of Diet Soda: Study Says Artificial Sweeteners May Cause Weight Gain and Deadly Diseases (VIDEO).” The Huffington Post. TheHuffingtonPost.com, July 11, 2013. Web. January 9, 2014. Come on, Janet. "Wait! Study shows diet soda isn't just bad for you, it makes you fat." Alternet. Alter Net, July 11, 2013. Web. January 9, 2014.Holland, Laura. "Food for Thought: Do Diet Drinks Cause Diabetes? | The National. "Food for Thought: Do Diet Drinks Cause Diabetes? | The National. The National Inc., June 23, 2013. Web. January 9, 2014. Squillace, Mary. “10 reasons to ditch diet soda.” Fox News. FOX News Network, October 29, 2013. Web. January 9. 2014.