Drinking at least two glasses of Diet Coke a day doubles the risk of diabetes, scientists have found.
In surprising new study researchers found the diet drink can be almost as bad as other fizzy drinks – and despite being sugar-free it does not stop the likelihood of developing type 2 diabetes.
More than 2,800 adults took part in the Swedish study and kept a year-long diary about what they drank every day.
Scientists suspect the artificial sweetener in the drinks can actually make people feel hungrier and reach for sugary food.
People who drank two or more sweetened drinks a day - whether sugary or artificially sweetened - were 2.4 times more likely to develop type 2 diabetes.
The researchers from the Karolinska Institute in Sweden found for every 200ml of sugary fizzy drink drunk each day, the diabetes risk increased by 21 per cent. The same amount of diet drink consumed every day increased the risk by 18 per cent.
Drinking five or more sugar-free drinks a day increased the risk of developing the disease by 4.5 times.
The findings were published in the European Journal of Endocrinology, have led researchers to believe artificial sweeteners may be causing chemical reactions within the gut bacteria.
These reactions could lead the body to become less tolerant of glucose, triggering diabetes.
There are 3.3 million British people living with diabetes, most of whom have type 2. The NHS spend £1 billion a year on drugs to treat the illness
The head researcher, Josefin Löfvenborg, said: 'One hypothesis is that consumption of diet soft drinks may stimulate appetite making us increase our food intake, especially sweet or sugary foods, possibly leading us to become overweight which is a risk factor for diabetes.
'It has also been proposed that artificial sweeteners may negatively affect the balance of "good" and "bad" species of microbes in the gut, leading to glucose intolerance.'
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