A new study has found that diet soda isn’t any better than the regular soda. Instead the new study, conducted by Purdue University, showed that the artificial sweeteners in diet sodas can cause weight gain, metabolic syndrome, diabetes, and heart disease.Not only that, but the artificial sweeteners can also interfere with your body’s normal response to sugars and deregulate blood sugar levels more than regular soda. The artificial sweeteners trick the body into thinking it’s taking in the calories with the sweet taste, but when the body gets real sugar it doesn’t know how to process it and fails to release the hormones that control your blood sugar and blood pressure.

The American Beverage Association (ABA) claims that “low-calorie sweeteners are some of the most studied and reviewed ingredients in the food supply today,” and that “they are safe and an effective tool in weight loss and weight management, according to decades of scientific research and regulatory agencies around the globe.” The ABA also noted that the Purdue study was technically published as an opinion piece, not a scientific study. Susan Swithers, the author of the Purdue Study, stated, “it is not uncommon for people to be given messages that artificially sweetened products are healthy, will help them lose weight, or will help prevent weight gain,” and that “the data to support those claims are not very strong, and although it seems like common sense that diet sodas would not be as problematic as regular sodas, common sense is not always right.”

In 2012 another study found that drinking diet soda on a daily basis can lead to strokes and heart disease. Another report in General Dentistry found that high consumption of diet soda can erode teeth as much as crystal meth or crack cocaine.