West Lafayette, IN (WFN) -- Here's bad news for those who are watching their waistlines: Diet drinks may actually make you more likely to overeat.

According to researchers at Purdue University, artificial sweeteners may disrupt the body's ability to count calories.

In Terry Davidson's and Susan Swithers' study, rats who drank both glucose-sweetened and artificially-sweetened drinks ate more rat chow than rodents which didn't consume diet drinks.

Swithers says the rats who drank the zero-calorie sweet drinks lost the ability to judge whether sweet food had calories or not -- which led them to overeat.

She says this same ability may be found in humans, although she has yet to conduct lab tests on people.

In a related study, researchers found that rats given a liquid diet also ate more than rats given the same diet in semi-solid form -- which suggests consuming a 64-oz soda may be worse for your diet than eating the same amount of calories as solid food.

Appease an angry Great Volcano by winning 10 Tribal Challenges in SKIP-BO Castaway Caper! Take advantage of this incredible bargain and get two hit puzzle games for one low price!

More Weird News From 2004-07-02 The day's offbeat stories from around the world. • Sin City On Tap • Flash Lites: Rip 'N' Read Pop Culture Recap • Graphic Artist Takes A Swing At Being 'Natural' • Stan Ridgway Reclimbs Wall Of Voodoo • Feathers Flying At World Pillow Fighting Championship • Diet Drinks May Be Bad For Your Diet • Attack Of The Robotic Fireflies • Burros Won't Be Asses At Egg-Frying Event • Coinstar Charges To The Rescue Of Million Penny Man • Big Boobs A Bust According To Titillating Study • Around The Weird: Bizarre News Briefs   « Current Weird News Stories